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NATIONAL  ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCES 

OF  THE   UNITED   STATES  OF  AMERICA 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIRS 

PART  OF  VOLUME   IX 


BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIR 


OF 


EUGENE    WOLDEMAR   HILGARD 
1833-1916 


^ 


FREDERICK  SLATE 


PRESENTBD  TO  THE   ACADEMY  AT  THE  ANNUAL   MEETING,   1918 


CITY  OF  WASHINGTON 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  NATIONAL  ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCES 

November,  1919 


NATIONAL  ACAi._    ;Y  OF  SCIENCES 

OF  THE   UNITED   STATES  OF  AMERICA 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIRS 

PART  OF  VOLUME   IX 


BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIR 


OF 


EUGENE    WOLDEMAR   HILGARD 
1833-1916 


BY 


FREDERICK  SLATE 


PRESENTED   TO  THE  ACADEMY  AT  THE  ANNUAL  MEETING,   1918 


CITY  OF  WASHINGTON 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  NATIONAL  ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCES 

November,  1919 


EUGENE  WOLDEMAR  HILGARD 

1833-1916 

BY  FREDERICK   SLATE 


Eugene  Woldemar  Hilgard  was  born  at  Zweibriicken,  in 
Rhenish  Bavaria,  on  January  5,  1833.  At  that  date  his  father, 
Theodore  Erasmus  Hilgard,  a  noted  lawyer,  held  an  important 
position  as  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  the 
province.  His  mother,  Margaretha  Pauli,  was  a  descendant 
of  that  Pierre  Toussaint  de  Beaumont  who  was  court  preacher 
to  Marguerite,  Queen  of  Navarre,  and  subsequently  canon  at 
Metz,  having  fled  from  France  during  the  persecutions  of 
the  Huguenots.  His  son  Daniel,  known  in  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory as  Tossanus,  was  court  preacher  at  Heidelberg  and  after- 
wards rector  of  the  university  there,  in  which  his  grandson, 
also  Daniel,  in  due  time  became  Professor  of  Theology.  The 
daughter  of  the  latter  married  Reinhold  Pauli,  the  great-grand- 
father of  Margaretha,  who  traced  her  descent  otherwise,  too, 
from  generations  of  clergy. 

Theodore  Hilgard,  himself  descended  from  a  long  line  of 
mmisters  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  having  been  born  during 
the  impetus  of  the  French  Revolution,  was  of  pronounced 
liberal  tendencies.  He  opposed  stoutly  the  proposal  to  super- 
sede the  Code  Napdleon  by  the  illiberal  laws  of  the  ancien 
regime,  and  determined  finally  to  resign  his  office,  though 
standing  in  the  fullness  of  a  successful  career.  Having  re- 
jected repeatedly  flattering  offers  from  the  government  at 
Munich  because  the  posts  tendered  would  have  removed  him 
from  a  sphere  of  liberal  activity,  he  reached  at  length  the 
fateful  decision  to  emigrate  to  America,  the  land  of  liberty, 
with  his  family  of  nine  children,  among  whom  Eugene  Wolde- 
mar was  the  youngest.  In  taking  this  step  he  followed  the 
lead  of  a  number  of  relatives  and  political  sympathizers  who 
had  already  migrated  toward  the  "Far  West." 

95 


NATIONAI,  ACADI^MY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MElMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

In  the  autumn  of  1835,  then,  this  Hilgard  family  entered 
upon  the  long  journey,  whose  first  stage  in  those  days  was  a 
drive  of  fourteen  days  to  Havre,  their  household  goods  (in- 
cluding a  grand  piano)  accompanying  them  on  freight  wagons. 
After  four  weeks'  wait  at  that  port,  they  embarked  on  the 
good  ship  Marengo  bound  for  New  Orleans,  and  celebrated 
Christmas  eve  by  arriving,  at  the  end  of  sixty-two  days.  For- 
tunately a  steamboat  was  soon  to  leave  for  Saint  Louis,  a 
risky  voyage  of  ten  more  days  against  heavy  drifting  ice,  dur- 
ing which  the  subject  of  the  present  memoir  recorded  his  third 
birthday. 

A  group  of  cultured  German  families,  largely  exiles  for  po- 
litical reasons,  were  already  settled  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Belleville.  Illinois,  the  county-seat  of  Saint  Clair  County;  and 
that  group  the  Hilgards  joined,  establishing  themselves  on  a 
farm.  The  colony  became  known  as  the  "Latin  settlement" 
and  its  members  as  "The  Latins,"  on  the  popular  supposition 
that  they  actually  spoke  in  Latin  or  were  at  least  competent 
to  speak  it.  In  truth,  however,  it  was  the  German  language 
that  remained  predominant  among  these  settlers  and  their 
children,  because  new  German  immigrants  kept  swelling  their 
numbers,  and  because  there  were  at  that  time  but  few  educated 
American  families  resident  around  Belleville. 

The  former  chief  justice  did  not  resume  any  legal  activity, 
finding  the  common  law  and  the  court  practice  by  precedent 
unsuited  to  his  taste;  so  he  returned  to  literature  as  an  early 
love,  to  which  he  had  once  thought  of  devoting  himself  ex- 
clusively. Recalling  his  predilection  for  the  classics,  he  under- 
took presently  to  make  metric  translations  into  German  of 
selected  Greek  and  Latin  poets:  Ovid's  Metamorphoses 
(printed  at  Belleville)  were  among  the  first  of  these ;  and  later 
he  finished  a  part  of  the  Odyssey,  which  had  attracted  him  as 
being  related  in  some  measure  to  his  own  wanderings.  He 
translated  Moore's  Lalla  Rookh  also,  and  issued  a  small  edi- 
tion for  private  circulation.  While  engaged  in  such  work  it 
was  natural  to  share  it  with  the  family  by  reading  and  dis- 
cussing portions  of  it ;  so  in  this  classic-poetic  atmosphere,  in- 
fused with  music  and  other  art,  and  under  strong  influence 
from  their  father's  advanced  views  about  politics  and  social 

96 


DUGKNE:  WOIvDE^MAR  hii^gard SlvATi; 

questions,  the  children's  lives  must  have  been  shaped  in  un- 
usual ways  that  were  to  bear  future  fruit.  As  this  account 
progresses,  that  exceptional  nurture  will  offer  the  key  to  much 
that  set  Eugene  apart  among  his  fellows  for  maturity  and  for 
strength. 

The  four  Hilgard  boys  found  themselves  rather  isolated, 
since  no  other  "Lateiner"  lived  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
Their  father  thought  it  inadvisable  to  send  them  to  the  local 
public  school,  which  was  still  quite  primitive,  but  instructed 
them  himself  instead  in  mathematics  and  the  languages,  with 
aid  from  the  older  sisters,  especially  in  the  case  of  Eugene. 
Having  been  educated  largely  in  French  institutions,  the  father 
was  inclined  to  insist  strenuously  that  the  children  should  all 
learn  French  while  young.  After-dinner  readings  in  that 
language  constituted  a  regular  exercise,  and  there  were  two 
fixed  days  a  week  when  all  communication  was  to  be  in  French. 
Neither  form  of  this  discipHne  was  entirely  popular;  the  re- 
luctant boys  schemed  to  evade  it,  escaping  to  the  woods  and 
there  in  reprisal  relaxing  into  the  dialect  of  the  Palatinate 
which  was  taboo  at  home.  Apart  from  some  hunting,  garden- 
ing, and  a  substratum  of  farm  work  such  as  the  conditions 
required,  the  occupations  and  the  games  of  conventional  boy- 
hood found  only  a  subordinate  place  in  this  mode  of  living. 
The  woodlands  and  prairies  of  the  region  balanced  fairly  their 
rival  attractions  as  fields  for  botanizing  and  for  collecting 
insects,  and  an  extensive  and  varied  home  library  offered 
an  opportunity  for  spontaneous  reading  or  consecutive  study. 
In  the  pursuit  of  natural  history,  Eugene  and  his  brother 
Theodore,  who  was  five  years  older,  soon  became  very  assid- 
uous, being  specially  stimulated  by  a  borrowed  copy  of  Oken's 
Natural  History,  and  helped,  too,  particularly  in  their  botany, 
by  a  cousin  resident  in  Saint  Louis. 

This  almost  ideal  state  of  things  might  have  continued 
for  the  boys  until  the  time  of  natural  flight  from  the  parental 
home  but  for  the  intervention  of  that  Nature  whom  it  was  then 
the  day-dream  of  enthusiasts  to  approach  once  more  through 
return  to  simple  living.  That  intervention  here  took  the  form 
of  swarms  of  mosquitoes  with  consequent  fever  and  ague, 
whose  close  interconnection  was,  however,  at  that  date  scarcely 

97 


NATIONAI,  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAI,   MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

suspected.  An  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever  went  progressively 
through  the  family,  of  which  the  eldest  sister  died.  The  dis 
ease  attacked  Eugene  last ;  there  was  a  severe  relapse  and  from 
this  time  forward  for  some  years  he  was  to  suffer  during  sev- 
eral months  of  each  summer  from  fevers — tertian,  quartan,  or 
quotidian,  or  from  all  combined.  It  was  inevitable  that  habits 
of  study  were  much  interrupted,  especially  when  the  inroads 
of  ague  were  found  to  affect  the  eyes.  Meanwhile  mosquitoes 
were  allowed  free  access  to  such  patients,  fumigations  with 
pumpkin  leaves  being  the  utmost  defensive  measure  employed 
against  them,  unless  we  may  add  the  daily  diet  of  quinine. 

In  1842  fate  struck  again  with  the  death  of  the  mother  after 
a  lingering  illness;  so,  naturally,  this  threw  the  management 
of  the  household  and  the  care  for  the  younger  members  of  the 
family  into  the  hands  of  the  elder  sisters. 

In  1846  the  favorite  brother,  Theodore,  left  home  to  study 
medicine  in  Europe;  and  this  loss. of  a  sympathetically  close 
friend  conspired  with  physical  depression  attendant  upon  Eu- 
gene's illness,  inducing  a  state  of  mind  that  was  probably 
detrimental  to  his  health,  already  weak-ened  by  a  persistent 
obsession  with  fever  and  ague  and  its  concomitant  troubles. 
The  disability  of  the  eyes  increased,  as  did  the  chafing  against 
breaking  off  study.  He  persevered  with  work  in  botany,  how- 
ever, and  gradually  acquired  a  knowledge  of  physics  and  chem- 
istry from  the  "Lehrbuch"  of  Miiller-Pouillet  and  Gmelin's 
"Handbuch,"  contriving  such  chemical  and  physical  experi- 
ments as  his  limited  resources  permitted.  The  fundamentals 
of  these  two  sciences  and  many  of  their  important  details,  thus 
absorbed  without  any  teaching,  proved  later  to  be  of  material 
assistance  to  Eugene  as  a  student,  placing  him  in  advance  of 
those  who  were  his  equals  in  academic  age. 

The  physicians  at  last  acknowledged  the  danger  of  remaining 
longer  in  so  malarial  a  climate,  and  the  father  decided  that 
Eugene  should  go  where  he  could  attend  lectures  at  least,  since 
he  was  barred  from  reading  freely.  So  he  left  home  in  the 
summer  of  1848  with  his  oldest  brother,  Julius,  then  returning 
to  Washington,  where  he  was  assistant  in  the  U.  S.  Coast 
Survey.  As  a  first  impression  of  serious  travel,  then  not  so 
smoothly  easy  as  now,  this  journey,  of  course,  left  a  profound 

98 


EUGENE   WOIJ)EMAR   HII^GARD SI.ATE 

impression.  It  occupied  a  full  week,  being  made  by  steam- 
boat to  Louisville  and  thence  to  Wheeling;  by  stage  to  Cum- 
berland, and  by  the  newly  opened  railroad  to  Relay  House 
and  Washington.  During  a  stay  of  four  months  in  that  city 
Eugene  met  some  of  the  men  nationally  prominent  in  science, 
notably  Joseph  Henry,  the  first  Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  and  his  assistant,  Baird;  also  A.  D.  Bache,  then 
Superintendent  of  the  Coast  Survey.  The  youth  thus  intro- 
duced to  them  was  not  yet  sixteen ;  he  felt  embarrassed,  more- 
over, by  a  consciousness  of  that  foreign  tinge  in  his  English 
speech  which  the  German  of  childhood  had  left  and  which 
he  removed  fully  only  by  persistent  effort.  Altogether,  he 
doubted  much  whether  these  older  men  were  at  all  impressed. 
Yet  the  sequel  showed,  through  the  ready  furtherance  of  his 
objects  at  every  return  to  Washington,  good  proof  that  at 
least  some  of  these  leaders  recognized  in  Eugene  Hilgard  the 
quality  that  placed  him  among  their  logical  successors  when 
his  ambitions  had  unfolded  into  a  career. 

The  time  spent  in  Washington  was  partly  devoted  to  collec- 
tion and  study  of  the  local  flora ;  but  a  certain  lack  of  oppor- 
tunities to  attend  lectures  decided  Eugene,  in  November,  to 
move  on  to  Philadelphia.  There  he  heard  the  evening  lectures 
at  the  Franklin  Institute  by  Professors  Booth  and  Eraser  and 
others ;  also  the  winter  course  in  chemistry  given  by  Professor 
Semple  at  the  Homeopathic  College.  The  latter  soon  discov- 
ered that  the  young  student  was  fitted  to  act  as  lecture  assistant 
and  engaged  him.  This  duty  gave  much  valuable  experience 
in  manipulation  and  in  the  preparation  of  rarer  compounds,  as 
well  as  the  stimulus  due  to  personal  contact  with  the  professor 
and  sharing  his  thoughts.  Then,  besides,  since  the  newer  as- 
pirations were  not  finding  full  outlet  in  the  experimental  work 
at  the  college,  the  younger  Hilgard  established  for  himself  a 
private  laboratory  in  a  garret  room.  Here  he  practiced 
also  electrotyping  and  photography,  for  which  he  contrived 
his  own  appliances ;  and  thus  the  severe  winter  passed  in 
busy  and  profitable  occupation. 

A  visit  to  Professor  Booth's  laboratory,  at  that  date  the 
only  one  in  this  country  where  students  were  systematically 
taught  analytical  chemistry,  brought  the  suggestion  of  going 

99 


NATIONAI,  ACADE^MY  BIOGRAPHICAI,   MKMOIRS — ^VOL.   IX 

without  further  delay  to  Germany,  where  such  studies  could 
be  prosecuted  more  advantageously.  This  plan  having  received 
the  paternal  approval,  passage  was  secured  on  the  steamer 
Hermann,  to  leave  New  York  in  March,  1849,  for  Bremen, 
whence  the  journey  would  be  continued  to  Heidelberg,  where 
the  brother,  Theodore,  was  then  a  student.  With  a  self- 
reliance  incidental  to  sixteen  completed  years,  the  trip  to  join 
the  steamer  was  entered  upon  alone;  but  it  is  recorded  how 
awed  the  traveler  found  himself  by  the  dangers  of  the  big  city, 
how  he  sought  refuge  from  them  overnight  on  board  the  boat, 
and  was  glad  to  sail  and  leave  them  behind  the  next  day. 
When  nearing  Bremen  the  Hermann  was  halted  by  a  Danish 
cruiser  and  searched  for  contraband  of  war,  the  Schleswig- 
Holstein  conflict  with  Denmark  being  then  in  progress ;  and 
this  occurrence  was  held  to  augur  more  excitements  to  come, 
for  the  revolutionary  movements  of  the  previous  year  were 
known  to  be  flaming  up  again  for  the  suppression  of  "princes, 
potentates  and  powers,"  and  making  their  call  too  for  recruits. 
From  Bremen  the  remaining  stage  to  Heidelberg  by  way  of 
Cologne  and  the  Rhine  steamers  was  completed  safely,  and  the 
reunited  brothers,  Eugene  and  Theodore,  were  able  to  cele- 
brate their  first  evening  together  at  a  large  "Maiwein  Kom- 
mers."  This  was  for  Eugene  his  first  foretaste  of  German 
student  life. 

At  the  university  work  in  Professor  Gmelin's  chemical  lab- 
oratory was  begun  at  once  with  zeal,  and  supplemented  by  at- 
tendance upon  BischofF's  botanical  lectures.  But  as  time  went 
on  the  general  conditions  within  the  university  and  outside  it 
fell  short  in  several  respects  of  making  unreserved  appeal  to 
this  keen-minded  young  observer.  Some  of  the  lectures  heard 
proved  to  be  perfunctory  and  uninspiring,  or  the  lecturers  failed 
under  test  to  reveal  the  scientifically  open  mind.  He  could 
muster  but  scant  sympathy  either  for  the  false  ideals  and  the 
ritual  of  the  "Korpsstudent ;"  nor  did  he  discover  political 
maturity  under  the  lacks  in  competent  leadership  and  coherent 
purpose  betrayed  by  the  forms  that  democratic  strivings  took. 
Such  impressions  and  experiences,  then,  disappointed  in  some 
degree  the  expectations  implanted  by  the  early  influence  of  his 
father,  and  they  consequently  gave  a  certain  tentative  character 

100 


EUGEJN]^  WOIvD^MAR  HII^GARD SI^ATE) 

also  to  the  effort  of  the  next  two  years.  Eugene  Hilgard  was 
later  inclined  to  trace  in  them  a  period  of  orientation;  of 
search  for  some  combination  that  would  yield  a  satisfying  vo- 
cation based  upon  adequate  preparation  for  it.  Such  deliber- 
ate approach  circling  round  the  lifework  finally  chosen  was, 
however,  not  uncommon  among  those  men  of  an  older  genera- 
tion who  arrived  at  distinction.  There  was  nothing  leisurely 
or  desultory  in  the  process;  it  was,  on  the  contrary,  of  neces- 
sity aggressive  and  strenuous,  because  each  man  was  com- 
pelled to  break  in  large  measure  an  individual  path.  There  is 
good  cause  to  doubt  whether  the  same  toughness  of  fiber  can 
be  developed  so  fully  on  the  present  highways  laid  out  and 
ready  to  lead  into  some  intensive  early  specialization. 

Eugene  and  Theodore  Hilgard  left  Heidelberg  in  the  summer 
of  1849,  with  no  plan  that  looked  beyond  an  outing  for  recre- 
ation and  a  visit  to  their  native  Palatinate.  But  at  Karlsruhe 
they  came  among  the  uprisings  that  put  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Baden  to  flight  and  led  to  the  establishment  of  a  provisional 
government,  and  on  crossing  the  Rhine  they  found  great 
confusion  prevailing.  Much  enthusiastic  shouting  for  equal- 
ity and  liberty  there  was,  to  a  loud  accompaniment  of  drums 
and  fifes;  much  aimless  discussion  in  meetings  as  well,  but  a 
noticeable  absence  of  definite  action,  except  that  rudely  armed 
peasants  were  seen  drilling  everywhere  in  squads.  With  the 
support  of  American  passports  and  their  locally  influential  fam- 
ily name,  the  two  travelers  opened  their  way  easily  past  such 
sentinels  and  guards  as  they  encountered  and  reached  Speyer, 
where  they  found  their  cousin,  Fritz  Hilgard,  in  power  as 
civil  commissary,  or  governor  over  the  eastern  Palatinate.  His 
plain  forecast  of  anarchy  in  the  immediate  future  confirmed 
their  own  observation  and  inclined  them  to  adopt  his  counsel, 
according  to  which  they  should  at  once  turn  back  to  Heidel- 
berg, make  their  route  thence  to  Switzerland,  and  abide  there 
while  these  troubled  times  lasted.  In  fact,  they  did  witness 
later  at  Zurich  the  disarming  of  the  German  revolutionary 
army,  and  they  met  again  their  cousin  there,  now  an  exile,  es- 
caping sentence  of  death.  Thus  some  compulsion  arising  from 
political  conditions  determined  the  migration  to  the  University 
of  Zurich  for  Eugene  and  his  brother,  which  was  the  next 
stage  in  their  progress. 

lOI 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

At  Zurich  Eugene  Hilgard  found  Professor  Oken  in  person, 
the  charm  of  whose  Natural  History  had  incited  to  study  in 
the  far-off  American  home ;  in  geology  he  worked  with  Escher 
von  der  Linth,  in  chemistry  with  Professors  Lowig  and 
Schweitzer,  all  notable  men.  Here,  not  otherwise  than  in 
Philadelphia,  he  still  found  himself  overtopping  his  contempo- 
raries in  the  strength  given  by  preparatory  study,  and  he 
was  soon  selected  by  Lowig  to  be  assistant  in  the 
lecture-room  and  in  laboratory  investigations.  These  and 
similar  activities  rounded  out  three  semesters  at  Zurich, 
which  were  looked  back  upon  as  the  most  enjoyable  of  the 
growing  student's  training.  The  next  step  carried  Eugene,  in 
1850,  via  Dresden,  where  a  married  sister  had  meanwhile  come 
to  reside,  to  the  Mining  Academy  at  Freiberg  for  advanced 
study  in  mining  and  metallurgy.  So  he  parted  company  with 
Theodore,  who  was  proceeding  to  the  University  of  Vienna, 
whose  medical  school  stood  then,  as  now,  in  high  repute. 

In  those  years  the  Freiberg  Academy  was  at  its  best,  with 
Plattner,  Breithaupt,  von  Cotta,  Weisbach,  in  the  chairs  of 
metallurgy,  mineralogy,  geology,  engineering,  as  well  as  prom- 
inent men  in  other  departments.  While  as  a  student  he  could 
not  but  prize  such  opportunities  and  avail  himself  of  them 
industriously,  the  young  man  in  Eugene  Hilgard  found  the  local 
life  much  less  attractive  than  at  Heidelberg  and  Zurich.  Not 
only  did  he  miss  sorely  the  beauty  of  landscape  in  his  sur- 
roundings— Freiberg  being  no  exception  to  the  proverbial  rule 
that  mining  regions  are  bleak — but  he  experienced  another, 
and  for  him  more  serious,  defect  in  the  daily  living.  There 
were  unsocial  conditions  prevailing  in  the  community;  antag- 
onisms between  the  garrison  and  the  student  body,  jealousies 
of  spirit,  setting  academy  against  the  universities.  The  effects 
of  the  latter  especially  galled  the  student  with  a  record  of 
four  university  semesters,  who  stoutly  refused  to  acquiesce  in 
the  status  of  "Fuchs"  proposed  for  him  among  men  of  little 
liberal  education  and  shorter  apprenticeship  than  his.  So  Hil- 
gard was  out  of  tune  with  the  majority  of  his  fellow-students, 
had  some  sharp  differences  with  them,  and  was  thrown  for 
his  closer  associations  upon  the  small  body  of  foreigners,  among 
v/hom  were  several  Americans. 

102 


DUGENE:   WOLDKMAR   HII^GARD SIvATE 

But  he  grew  into  intimacy  with  Professor  Plattner,  in  whose 
blowpipe  methods  of  chemical  analysis  he  became  so  strongly 
interested  that  he  developed  them  with  important  expansions 
subsequently.  In  the  laboratory  of  Professor  Scherer  he  car- 
ried through  an  investigation  into  a  new  double  sulphate  of 
iron  and  potassium.  In  his  own  quarters,  moreover,  other 
researches  were  developing;  namely  with  organic  compounds, 
one  of  which  might  have  ended  life  and  study  together,  when 
hydrocyanic  gas  was  unexpectedly  liberated  from  oxamid  and 
inhaled.  Fortunately,  though,  the  effect  at  the  time  was  noth- 
ing worse  than  a  few  minutes  of  unconsciousness,  and  no  fur- 
ther results  of  the  accident  appeared.  This  period  shows  other 
risks  incurred,  however,  whose  consequences  were  not  so  tran- 
sient, exposure  to  which  was  attendant  upon  a  practical  course 
in  the  smelting  works  at  Muldnerhiitte  undertaken  during  one 
vacation.  Here  there  were  fumes  of  sulphur,  arsenic  and 
lead,  from  the  furnaces  that  the  student  was  set  to  feed,  caus- 
ing a  troublesome  cough.  In  addition,  the  insidious  quick- 
silver vapor  leaking  from  the  condenser  in  a  distillation  of 
amalgam  nearly  overcame  Hilgard  on  one  occasion.  And 
needing  then  to  be  sent  to  a  doctor  for  treatment,  he  received 
unawares  the  shock  of  being  pronounced  unfit  physically  to 
become  a  "Hiittenmann."  This  verdict  was  presently  corrob- 
orated by  his  brother  Theodore,  whom  he  visited  at  Vienna, 
and  who  on  all  scores  advised  him  rather  to  follow  the  out-of- 
door  life  of  a  geologist  or  a  botanist. 

This  crisis,  to  be  sure,  was  no  more  than  an  accentuated  re- 
currence of  previous  warnings.  The  persistent  attacks  of  ma- 
laria during  the  critical  years  of  growth  had  been  tenacious  in 
their  after-effects,  bringing  on  exhaustion  under  any  severe 
task ;  for  instance,  in  Zurich  once,  when  Theodore  was  obliged 
to  prescribe  as  a  tonic  a  trip  through  the  Bernese  Highlands. 
Quick  improvement  in  the  bracing  air  had  been  clearly  ap- 
parent then;  for  just  one  climb  from  Lauterbrunnen  across 
the  Tschingel  glacier  to  Kandersteg,  though  begun  with  aching 
head  and  eyes  and  accomplished,  forsooth,  only  under  the  re- 
peated spur  of  "Kirschwasser"  from  the  guide's  flask,  had 
banished  the  bad  symptoms  effectually.  Such  marked  success 
had  encouraged  a  continuance  of  the  plan  throughout  that  va- 

103 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY   BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS VOL.    IX 

stricted  access  of  air  that  gives  the  colors  of  a  mixture  of  hy- 
drogen and  carbon  monoxide.  The  blue  cone  of  the  blow- 
pipe's oxidation  flame  is  then  simply  a  prolongation  of  such 
a  "blue  cup"  at  whose  tip  the  highest  temperature  exists.  Bun- 
sen  gave  high  praise  to  the  investigation,  whose  general  con- 
clusions were  fully  sustained  when  Lunge  reviewed  them, 
having  simplified  the  conditions  by  using  illuminating  gas 
for  fuel. 

The  candidate  filled  two  years  busily  with  preparation,  sup- 
porting his  major  line  of  work  with  physics  and  mineralogy, 
and  the  ordeal  of  the  examination  at  length  arrived.  We  are 
assured  that  the  test  was  endured  with  unshaken  composure  in 
the  stimulating  presence  of  Bunsen ;  and  without  any  sense  of 
difficulty,  though  von  Leonhardt,  the  mineralogist,  was  rated 
an  examiner  formidable  in  his  capricious  demands.  Associated 
with  Hilgard  for  the  examination  was  L.  Carius,  lecture  as- 
sistant to  Bunsen,  and  the  two  candidates  arranged  for  a  joint 
"Doktorschmaus,"  the  usual  celebration  of  success.  But  here 
Carius  had  presently  to  represent  both  as  host,  his  companion 
in  honors  being  once  more  in  weak  health  from  overwork 
and  obliged  to  desert  the  festival  early.  It  would  seem,  indeed, 
that  a  breakdown  might  have  overtaken  Eugene  several  months 
before  had  not  his  sister  Clara  (already  widowed)  been  resi- 
dent then  in  Heidelberg  and  able  to  give  him  aflfectionate  care. 

On  the  day  after  the  examination,  the  new  Doctor  deemed 
it  advisable  to  consult  a  physician  about  his  case,  who  decided 
thai,  because  of  a  persistent  cough  and  general  poor  condition, 
Hilgard  ought  to  seek  a  Mediterranean  climate  promptly, 
suggesting  the  Island  of  Elba.  '  But  after  conferring  with  his 
brother  and  sister,  a  journey  to  Malaga  was  substituted,  where 
there  were  family  friends  who  could  be  helpful  if  need  arose. 
Some  hovering  suspicions  of  consumption  made  the  good-byes 
among  the  Heidelberg  acquaintances  rather  serious,  but  the 
patient  himself  seems  not  to  have  lost  confidence.  Taking 
the  manuscript  of  his  thesis  with  him  for  a  final  revision,  he 
started  southward  by  way  of  Zurich,  and  after  a  few  days 
spent  with  friends  there  he  went  on  through  Lausanne,  Geneva, 
Lyons ;  thence  by  steamer  to  Avignon  and  by  railroad  to  Mar- 
seilles, making  the  trip  at  leisure  in  order  to  husband  his  re- 

T06 


E:UGE:NE:   WOLDEMAR  HII^GARD SI.ATE; 

serves  of  strength.  Embarking  on  a  Spanish  steamer  that 
made  unhurried  halts  at  coast  ports,  the  traveller  was  given 
time  to  look  about  him  at  Barcelona,  Valencia,  Alicante  and 
Carthagena,  beside  like  opportunity  at  Marseilles  during  an 
enforced  v^ait  of  a  week  before  sailing.  After  leaving  France, 
however,  an  entire  ignorance  of  Spanish  limited  his  spoken 
inquiries  to  a  priest  on  board  who  could  use  Latin  and  to  a 
German  steward,  so  observing  eyes  had  double  duty.  That 
voyage  offered  Dr.  Hilgard  a  first  experience  of  arid  regions 
and  of  their  irrigation  systems,  whose  peculiar  conditions  were 
destined  to  become  so  familiar  to  him  subsequently  in  Califor- 
nia, to  the  successful  control  of  which  the  matured  professor 
was  later  to  make  many  valuable  contributions.  At  Alicante  the 
report  ran  that  no  rain  had  fallen  in  three  years.  The  country 
must  have  looked  unbearably  dry  by  comparison  with  North- 
ern Europe.  It  was  noted  that  the  only  representatives  of 
green  wild  plants  were  cactus  and  the  dwarf  palm,  and  how 
the  peeled  stems  of  the  latter  were  locally  esteemed  a  delicacy, 
though  astringent  as  unripe  persimmons! 

The  date  of  landing  in  Malaga  was  deferred  by  all  these 
stops  until  the  middle  of  November.  Then  came  unde- 
layed  recourse  to  a  tried  physician,  whose  diagnosis  could 
scarcely  have  relieved  apprehension,  for  his  prescriptions  were 
recognizably  directed  against  tuberculosis,  and  the  dictum 
uttered  to  the  friends  of  his  client  allowed  perhaps  three 
months  for  the  distressing  cough  to  complete  its  evil  work. 
Unaware  of  the  full  gravity  of  this  opinion,  Dr.  Hilgard  set 
about  securing  accommodations  where  only  Spanish  could  be 
spoken,  in  order  that  he  might  make  rapid  advance  in  adding 
tliis  language  to  his  repertory.  Then  he  buckled  down  to  put- 
ting the  last  touches  of  revision  to  his  thesis  and  dis- 
patched the  manuscript  in  final  form  to  Bunsen  in  February. 

This  winter  taught  the  usual  lesson  about  the  discomforts 
of  that  season  in  a  climate  deceptively  reputed  tropical  on  the 
evidence  of  its  summer  heat.  In  lodgings  upon  a  third  floor 
and  opening  by  draughty  sash-doors  upon  an  outside  balcony, 
the  delicate  lungs  could  not  well  be  protected  from  the  air 
that  was  often  chilled  by  snow  lying  thick  upon  the  cathedral's 
domes.    For  bodily  warmth  one  might  muffle  oneself  in  wrap- 

107 


NATIONAI,  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS VOL.    IX 

pings  of  bedclothes,  since  the  charcoal  brazier  only  aggravated 
the  cough  with  its  fumes  and  failed  to  heat  the  room.  With 
the  arrival  of  spring,  however,  there  came  also  a  noticeable 
improvement  in  health,  that  allowed  excursions  in  the  environs 
of  Malaga,  with  good  reward  through  the  exercise  and  in 
collecting  fossils  and  plants.  In  those  times  such  walks  were 
attended  with  some  risk  if  extended  far  outside  the  city;  of 
robbery  at  the  least,  or  even  of  being  held  for  ransom  by 
real  bandits  who  made  sporadic  raids  from  their  strongholds 
in  the  mountains  of  Ronda,  that  were  one  headquarters  for 
smugglers.  Yet  nothing  untoward  befell  our  exploring  ge- 
ologist and  botanist,  though  he  saw  his  footsteps  dogged  now 
and  then  by  suspicious  characters.  Rather  he  found  himself 
continually  amused  by  the  primitive  ignorance  of  the  country 
folk  about  any  foreign  lands,  and  by  their  belief  in  the  ge- 
ological hammer  and  the  plant-press  as  some  uncanny  outfit 
of  a  "medicine  man." 

These  habitual  rambles  fell  doubtless  in  a  critical  time  to 
put  aside  certain  dangers  and  to  yield  permanent  physical 
benefit.  Nevertheless  the  scale  did  not  turn  decidedly  enough 
toward  betterment  to  justify  an  immediate  return  to  America 
with  the  object  of  striking  into  some  scientific  career  there. 
So  to  give  himself  fuller  occupation,  and  as  a  partial  means 
of  support  besides,  Dr.  Hilgard  gathered  a  group  of  pupils  in 
assaying,  undertook  to  construct  for  a  college  a  Bunsen  bat- 
tery of  fifty  cells,  and  devised  on  a  commercial  scale  a  plant  for 
the  distillation  of  essences  from  roses  and  from  orange  blos- 
soms. His  alert  mind  was  of  course  extracting  valuable  ex- 
perience from  every  activity,  no  matter  how  temporary,  and 
he  was  acquiring  quickly  that  full  acquaintance  with  Spanish 
language,  customs  and  society  which  helped  to  make  him  re- 
markable afterwards  for  cosmopolitan  tone  as  well  as  for  com- 
mand of  scientific  horizon.  We  should  not  understand  those 
traits  in  him  adequately,  unless  we  had  dwelt  at  proper  length 
upon  the  adventurous  years  that  were  ripening  them. 

With  such  aims  in  view,  it  was  natural  to  accept  introduc- 
tions into  the  good  famihes  of  Malaga;  among  others  into 
that  of  Colonel  Bello,  retired  from  the  army,  whose  home  was 
noted  for  many  a  charming  evening  of  "tertulia,"  rendered 

io8 


EUGENE   WOEDEMAR  HIEGARD SEATE 

especially  interesting  by  the  musical  talent  of  his  only  daughter. 
Here  the  young  doctor  was  able  to  contribute  with  his  collec- 
tion of  German  music — in  those  circles  a  novelty  at  that  date. 
And  so  he  came  into  intimate  contact  with  Spanish  life,  met 
profitably  many  people,  and  gained  fluent  control  of  the  lan- 
guage.   Some  six  years  later  the  senorita  Bello  became  his  wife. 

By  the  spring  of  1855  his  better  health  warranted  the  de- 
cision to  return  to  America  and  enter  seriously  upon  his  life- 
work.  But  he  determined  to  visit  the  Alhambra  before  leav- 
ing Spain,  and  elected  to  go  on  muleback  in  the  company  of 
an  ordinary  mule-train,  coming  back  to  Malaga  though  in 
the  regular  stage  drawn  by  ten  mules  kept  at  a  constant  gallop, 
and  found  the  trip  both  ways  full  of  novelty.  At  the  ancient 
royal  town  of  Albania  he  chanced  to  witness  an  old-fashioned 
peasant  dance  on  the  broad  ramparts.  Near  Velez  he  saw 
for  the  first  time  fields  of  sugar-cane.  There  were  two  whole 
days  at  Granada,  spent  in  roaming  through  the  Castle  and 
about  the  city.  Here  he  could  vouch  for  the  survival  of  an  old 
custom  making  boys  free  to  throw  stones  at  whoever  appeared 
on  the  streets  in  foreign  garb.  On  reaching  Malaga  again, 
being  anxious  to  cross  the  ocean  without  further  delay,  Dr. 
Hilgard  ventured  to  engage  passage  on  a  schooner  of  four 
hundred  tons  bound  for  New  York,  though  its  accommodations 
were  poor.  They  were  to  take  on  their  cargo  of  cork  and  salt 
at  the  port  of  Setuval,  not  far  from  Lisbon,  and  this  circum- 
stance afforded  opportunity  for  a  week's  stay  in  that  capital 
and  its  surroundings.  Thus  he  was  enabled  to  visit  the  Castle 
of  Penna  at  Cintra  and  examine  its  beautifully  chiseled  walls ; 
also  to  inspect  that  slender  stone  arch  in  the  neighborhood, 
whose  flexible  construction  had  passed  safely  through  the 
earthquake  of  just  a  century  before  which  in  Lisbon  itself 
was  recorded  by  the  modern  straightness  of  the  streets. 

Persistent  headwinds  were  encountered  on  the  ocean,  so 
that  the  captain  was  induced  to  shape  his  course  more  south- 
west than  usual.  In  that  particular  year  this  route  happened 
to  bring  the  vessel  among  the  clinging  seaweed  of  the  shifting 
Sargasso  Sea,  against  which  the  sails  were  powerless  in  the 
light  tradewinds.  But  even  this  obstruction  could  be  condoned, 
since  it  made  possible  some  study  of  the  varied  fauna  of  the 

109 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAI,   MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

seaweed,  including  the  ''fishnests."  Passing  south  of  the  Azores, 
they  turned  northward  off  the  coast  of  Florida  and  landed 
safe  in  New  York  on  July  4,  1855,  after  thirty-five  days  at 
sea.  The  fossils  and  plants  collected  around  Malaga,  it  is 
said,  would  fit  no  schedule  of  the  customs  officer ,  who  was  at 
last  puzzled  into  admitting  them  duty-free.  This  unconven- 
tional arrival  in  New  York,  in  sharp  contrast  with  an  insipid 
following  of  some  worn  track,  was  in  significant  harmony  with 
the  whole  period  that  it  closed;  years  of  personal  initiative 
and  of  development  from  within,  crowned  now  with  a  dis- 
tinguished doctorate  from  the  leading  chemist  of  his  day. 

On  reaching  Washington,  since  no  desirable  permanent 
position  offered  itself,  an  arrangement  was  made,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Professor  Henry,  whereby  Dr.  Hilgard  occupied  a 
room  at  the  Smithsonian  Institution  and  could  at  least  con- 
tinue without  loss  of  time  his  chemical  researches.  But  this 
plan  was  quickly  interrupted  by  a  telegraphic  summons  to 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  to  meet  there  Dr.  Barnard,  professor 
of  physics  at  the  University  of  Mississippi.  He  proved  to  be 
in  search  of  an  assistant  to  serve  with  the  State  Geologist, 
Harper,  who  being  also  professor  of  geology  at  the  university, 
seemed  unable  for  that  reason  and  others  to  progress  fast 
enough  in  the  work  of  a  geological  survey.  The  salary  offered 
the  assistant  was  very  moderate,  and  candid  hints  were  let  fall 
that  relations  with  the  future  chief  might  be  none  too  smooth ; 
moreover,  scientific  colleagues  were  ready  with  condolence 
about  the  absence  from  that  region  of  those  palaeozoic  for- 
mations which  were  then  occupying  almost  exclusively  the 
minds  of  American  geologists.  Nevertheless,  it  was  plainly  an 
opening  field  for  real  employment,  and  the  service  was  ac- 
cepted. 

Hilgard  started  southward  a  few  weeks  later  from  Washing- 
ton for  Oxford,  Mississippi,  by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  rail- 
road that  had  surmounted  the  Alleghenies  during  his  absence 
abroad,  stopping  by  the  way,  however,  for  a  few  days  at  New 
Harmony,  Indiana.  Here  Dr.  David  Dale  Owen  with  some 
assistants  was  then  elaborating  the  results  of  the  geological 
and  agricultural  survey  of  Kentucky  and  Arkansas.  He  re- 
ceived the  visitor  so  genially,  and  was  so  generous  in  imparting 

no 


DugjBne:  woi^demar  HII^GARD — SIvATe: 

the  methods  established  by  his  wide  experience  as  best  to  pur- 
sue in  such  surveys,  that  he  made  the  visit  permanently  fruit- 
ful. He  emphasized  especially  the  need  of  close  attention  to 
the  soils  and  other  agricultural  features  upon  whose  proper 
recognition  both  the  practical  utility  and  the  popular  encour- 
agement of  such  surveys  would  depend,  particularly  in  Mis- 
sissippi, that  was  not  likely  to  be  productive  of  much  mineral 
wealth.  From  Owen  was  acquired,  too,  his  always  valuable 
scheme  for  soil  analyses,  and  altogether  his  counsels  of  an 
expert  were  effective  to  mark  out  the  first  lines  for  the  starting 
of  Hilgard's  work.  Leaving  New  Harmony  the  journey  was 
next  continued  by  steamboat  to  Memphis,  and  completed  by 
a  stage  ride  of  seventy  miles  to  the  site  of  the  State  University 
at  Oxford.  Here  Hilgard  was  to  make  his  headquarters  until 
the  transfer  to  Michigan  in  1873,  except  for  a  brief  residence 
in  Washington  toward  the  close  of  1857,  for  a  summer  visit 
to  Europe  in  i860,  during  which  he  claimed  his  betrothed  in 
Madrid,  and  for  some  disturbances  during  wartime.  Here  his 
three  children  were  born.  Entering  upon  this  important  stage 
of  his  career  as  a  young  man  scarce  twenty-two,  those  eighteen 
years  of  his  future  were  to  mature  his  powers  through  a  va- 
ried professional  activity  involving  many  side-lights  on  politics 
and  other  aspects  of  human  nature.  Those  were  days  of  pio- 
neer enterprise,  hampered  by  oblique  or  halting  movement 
toward  any  scientific  goal,  until  public  opinion  in  a  provincial 
and  uninstructed  community  could  be  educated  into  moral  and 
financial  support.  Hilgard's  own  transition  between  the  be- 
ginning and  the  end  of  this  period — shifting  his  main  active 
interest  from  geology  itself  to  agriculture  in  its  geological  con- 
nections— may  be  read  as  a  reaction  upon  himself  of  the  educa- 
tional campaign  that  was  engaging  his  effort.  His  main  under- 
taking belonged  to  an  era  that  afforded  fewer  good  models  and 
that  found  scanty  precedents  to  make  plain  sailing.  His 
measure  of  true  success  in  rendering  distinguished  service  to 
his  State,  and  at  the  same  time  building  up  a  nationally  recog- 
nized reputation,  was  achievable  only  by  such  alliance  as  his 
of  sanguine  young  manhood,  unusual  training,  and  zeal  for  his 
profession.  Other  men  might  have  been  daunted  by  the  dif- 
ficulties of  the  situation  and  its  crudities,  or  have  grown  cyni- 

III 


NATIONAI,  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAI^  MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

cal  under  repeated  disappointment  in  human  nature.  In  all 
these  relations  it  seems  probable  that  Hilgard's  training,  be- 
cause it  was  foreign,  must  have  helped  him  to  a  certain  detach- 
ment that  would  favor  freshness  in  attack  and  in  conception 
of  aims. 

The  Geological  Survey  of  Mississippi  had  been  authorized 
by  act  of  legislature  as  early  as  1850,  being  projected  then 
rather  hazily  as  a  sort  of  complete  Natural  History  Survey. 
The  duty  of  organizing  and  directing  it  was  at  first  superposed 
upon  the  professorship  of  chemistry  (or  of  chemistry  and 
geology)  in  the  university,  whose  incumbent  was  Millington; 
a  too  familiar  composite  scheme  for  overworking  one  man  into 
ineffectiveness.  •  A  first  attempt  to  create  the  separated  office 
of  State  Geologist  met  with  failure  in  1855,  though  recom- 
mended by  the  university  trustees,  and  the  better  fate  of  the 
movement  in  January,  1857,  as  we  shall  see,  was  rather  an 
incident  of  a  political  manoeuvre,  than  due  to  gain  in  public 
insight.  The  financial  provision  was  inadequate,  as  usual  with 
such  work ;  three  thousand  dollars  per  annum  originally,  while 
the  legislature  remained  habitually  more  ready  to  enlarge  the 
plan  and  the  responsibilities  of  those  placed  in  charge  of  it 
than  to  appropriate  funds  on  the  necessary  scale.  Naturally, 
therefore,  beginnings  could  be  developed  but  slowly,  yet  a 
good  introductory  report  was  got  together  for  printing  in 
1854  by  Professor  Wailes,  of  Jefferson  College,  Mississippi, 
who  had  been  secured  for  an  assistant  to  the  nominal  director. 
This  report,  entirely  of  geological  character,  gave  evidence  of 
a  creditable  start  toward  classifying  the  cretaceous,  tertiary, 
and  quaternary  areas  of  the  State,  and  figuring  the  collected 
fossils.  When  Millington  at  this  juncture  resigned  his  pro- 
fessorship, and  consequently  these  added  charges  also,  it 
would  have  been  advisable  to  appoint  Wailes  his  successor. 
But  another  candidate,  more  pretentious  though  less  fit,  seized 
the  vacant  professorship,  and  so  became  automatically  the 
head  of  the  survey.  He  was  that  Harper  to  whom  Hilgard  was 
now  to  be  assistant,  and  whom  he  was  not  slow  to  discover  in- 
competent on  all  scores,  to  a  degree  bordering  so  closely  upon 
charlatanism  that  the  selection  condemns  the  appointing  powers. 
But  Harper  showed  himself  an  adept  in  political  manipulation ; 

112 


KUGEN^   WOLDE^MAR   HII^GARD SIvAT:^ 

even  after  being  forced  from  his  professorship  in  1856  for 
gross  incapacity,  he  was  still  able  to  challenge  the  university- 
authorities  and  to  retain,  through  action  by  the  legislature,  the 
position  of  State  Geologist  as  an  independent  office.  Having 
rendered  unintended  service  to  the  State  in  promoting  this 
desirable  separation,  however,  his  nullity  soon  became  too 
notorious.  He  held  his  place  scarcely  a  year  and  disappeared 
from  the  scene  with  1857. 

As  aide  to  a  chief  of  that  type,  Hilgard  was,  of  course, 
solely  responsible  for  whatever  the  survey  actually  accom- 
plished. He  was  able  to  take  up  field-work  in  the  fall  of  1855. 
He  elaborated  his  notes  during  the  winter  1855-56  and  resumed 
explorations  the  following  summer.  We  can  imagine  what 
internal  chafing  the  talented  young  assistant  underwent  within 
the  limitations  imposed  by  such  false  conditions,  and  how  they 
might  have  dulled  a  less  deep-seated  scientific  purpose  or 
warped  a  weaker  rectitude  to  disloyalty.  Yet,  while  making 
steady  professional  progress  in  the  survey  and  gaining  insight 
by  experience  in  other  channels,  his  temper  of  mind  remained 
entirely  unspoiled.  Though,  for  example,  the  president  of  the 
board  of  trustees,  Jacob  Thompson,  prompt  to  recognize  this 
new  driving- force,  began  already  in  1855  to  take  intimate 
counsel  with  Hilgard  about  the  report  due  from  Harper  for 
presentation  to  the  legislature  that  winter.  Indeed,  under  an 
appointment  as  private  secretary  that  really  included  a  general 
advisory  relation  about  the  survey  Dr.  Hilgard  accompanied 
Thompson  to  the  legislative  session,  and  incidentally  witnessed 
his  defeat  by  Jefferson  Davis  in  a  campaign  for  the  United 
States  senatorship  that  is  now  historically  memorable. 

At  the  close  of  the  season  for  field-work  in  1856,  it  seemed 
profitable  that  Hilgard  should  confer  personally  with  Tuomey, 
the  State  Geologist  of  Alabama,  in  the  interest  of  establishing 
due  co-operation ;  more  especially  also  in  order  to  obtain  ex- 
pert backing  for  the  purchase  of  a  set  of  reference  books 
sorely  needed  in  identifying  collected  material.  This  was  in- 
tended to  combat  openly  Harper's  procedure,  who  would 
persist  in  ignoring  previous  discoveries  and  data,  going  to  the 
absurdly  unscientific  extent  of  proposing  a  new  name  inde- 
pendently for  each  species  of  fossil  that  Hilgard  might  collect. 

113 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAI,   MEMOIRS — ^VOL.   IX 

What  was  learned  through  this  personal  contact  with  Tuomey 
supported  the  teachings  of  current  experience  about  giving 
full  prominence  to  the  agricultural  bearings  of  the  survey  in 
Mississippi,  and  strengthened  the  growth  of  that  policy  whose 
seeds  had  been  sown  by  the  first  suggestions  of  Dr.  Owen ;  that 
main  idea  to  which  Hilgard  adhered  consistently  always,  and 
which  he  had  adopted  already  when  first  confirmed  as  head  ot 
the  independent  survey.  This  was  early  in  1858,  after  a 
previous  short  tenure  under  the  university  as  acting  director, 
immediately  following  Harper's  downfall. 

Hilgard  had  then  been  summoned  from  Washington,  whither 
he  had  retired  in  1857,  taking  this  step  in  avoidance  of  work- 
ing conditions  become  impossible  under  the  new-fledged  State 
Geologist.  The  interim  had  been  employed  fruitfully  in  the 
chemical  laboratory  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  where 
Professor  Henry  offered  a  warm  welcome.  Here  Hilgard 
carried  to  completion  two  investigations :  the  first  concerned 
itself  with  "The  Assay  of  Chromium  by  Blowpipe  Processes," 
the  method  being  based  upon  fusion  of  any  chromium  ore  with 
alkaline  carbonates,  followed  by  a  second  fusion  with  acid 
potassium  sulphate,  which  can  be  caused  to  yield  anhydrous 
and  insoluble  chrome  alum — a  unique  reaction.  The  discovery 
was  announced  at  once  to  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  and  was  incorporated  into  the  Eng- 
lish edition  of  Plattner's  Blowpipe  Methods.  The  other  re- 
search attempted  to  exploit  the  glass-like  texture  of  metastyrol 
for  optical  constructions ;  but  disappointment  was  met  because 
an  extending  network  of  minute  fissures  finally  marred  the 
polished  surfaces. 

The  resumption  of  work  at  Oxford  marks  a  phase  of  ad- 
vancement. As  director  of  the  Geological  Survey,  Dr.  Hilgard 
was  taking  already,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  a  conceded  place 
in  his  State  community,  and  he  had  set  his  foot  on  the  road 
to  a  national  prominence  in  his  chosen  field  of  geology,  that 
he  increased  and  carried  with  him  when  he  turned  with  growing 
attraction  toward  that  other  specialized  activity  by  which  his 
matured  powers  were  to  attain  widest  reputation.  Through 
the  years  next  following,  while  preserving  prudently  every 
advantage  of  close  touch  with  the  university  and  its  resources, 

114 


EUGENE   WOIvDEMAR  HII^GARD SI^ATE 

he  was  engaged  strenuously  in  discharging  his  obligation  to 
build  up  the  survey  on  a  sure  foundation  of  work  in  the  field 
and  the  laboratory.  An  exponent  always  of  the  movement  to 
broaden  its  agricultural  aspects  in  the  light  of  an  assured  be- 
lief, he  endeavored  wisely  to  educate  public  opinion  into  sup- 
porting him  intelligently ;  for  the  renewed  enterprise  could  not 
suddenly  throw  off  the  ill-repute  caused  by  Harper's  failure, 
while  the  antidote  in  Hilgard's  effective  scientific  methods  was 
not  at  first  popularly  grasped.  The  survey,  in  fact,  did  not 
escape  the  vicissitudes  that  commonly  beset  like  attempts;  so 
to  give  it  a  firmer  foothold  was  one  main  aim  of  the  new 
director's  first  report,  as  well  as  to  break  the  force  in  advance 
of  some  political  retaliation  that  was  learned  to  be  impending 
in  the  legislature  of  1858-59. 

In  a  common-sense  statement,  accessible  to  the  plain  un- 
derstanding, that  report,  by  the  intention  of  its  author:  "Dis- 
cussed the  need  and  advantages  of  a  thorough  geological  and 
agricultural  survey  of  the  State;  recited  the  causes  of  the 
slow  progress  and  failure  to  satisfy  the  public,  chief  among 
which  were  inadequate  appropriations  and  the  rank  incompe- 
tency of  the  late  incumbent.  Also  it  gave  examples  of  what 
had  been  done  in  other  States,  and  closed  with  a  recommenda- 
tion to  restore  the  geological  assistantship,  in  connection  with 
a  more  reasonably  adequate  appropriation."  In  spite  of  these 
prophylactic  measures,  however,  an  investigating  committee 
went  so  far  as  to  report  a  bill  "to  abolish  the  geological  and 
agricultural  survey  of  the  State,"  which  was  suppressed  only 
after  vigorous  conferences  between  the  chairman  and  the  ag- 
gressive director,  and  the  bold  challenge  of  the  latter  to  ac- 
quiesce in  dismissal  for  good  cause  proved,  provided  that  the 
survey  might  thus  be  preserved  from  interruption.  This  one 
symptomatic  incident  illustrates  picturesquely  how  unconquer- 
able fighting  spirit  was  needed,  beside  scientific  attainment, 
before  momentum  was  imparted  where  highest  public  interest 
demanded  it.  The  first  success  in  counter-offensive  was  driven 
home  with  a  second  report  at  the  legislative  session  of  1859-60, 
after  the  open  season  had  been  utilized  in  the  field  as  usual. 
The  outcome  was  now  more  favorable;  Hilgard's  accotmt 
reads:  "The  bill  reported  by  the  committee  and  afterwards 

115 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

passed  with  little  difficulty  by  the  legislature  made  no  radical 
changes  in  the  previous  act  defining  the  objects  of  the  survey, 
provided  for  the  appointment  of  an  assistant  geologist,  and  en- 
larged the  limits  of  the  annual  expenses." 

The  document  thus  persuasive  of  the  legislature  was  prelim- 
inary only.  The  completed  report,  in  which  more  scientific 
tone  prevailed,  could  not  be  printed  in  full  until  the  necessary 
funds  had  been  voted.  It  was  in  fact  held  back  until  1866 
from  effective  publication,  and  even  after  this  delay,  from  the 
circulation  that  it  merited,  by  circumstances  growing  out  of 
the  Civil  War,  though  the  printed  sheets  of  it  were  turned  over 
in  November,  i860.  We  find  it  remarkable  in  its  early  per- 
ception of  a  true  perspective  for  these  matters*  which  no 
grounds  appeared  later  to  modify,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  au- 
thentic summary  from  which  we  extract  the  following: 

•'In  this  report  I  undertook  to  separate  as  far  as  possible 
the  purely  scientific  part  from  that  bearing  directly  upon 
practical  points,  in  order  to  render  the  latter  as  accessible  to 
unscientific  readers  as  the  nature  of  the  case  permitted ;  while 
at  the  same  time  giving  scientific  discussion  full  swing  in  its 
proper  place.  The  volume  is  thus  divided  nearly  evenly  be- 
tween a  'geological'  and  an  'agricultural'  portion;  the  former 
giving  under  the  special  heading  of  'useful  materials'  the 
technically  important  features  of  each  formation,  after  its 
geological  characters  had  been  discussed.  In  the  agricultural 
portion  it  seemed  needful  at  the  time  to  give  by  way  of  intro- 
duction a  brief  discussion  of  the  principles  of  agricultural 
chemistry,  then  but  little  understood ;  and  to  explain  their  ap- 
plication to  the  agricultural  practice  of  the  State.  In  the  de- 
scriptive portion  of  the  agricultural  report  the  State  is  divided 
into  regions  characterized  by  more  or  less  uniformity  of  soil 
and  surface  features ;  and  each  is  considered  in  detail,  special 
attention  being  given  to  the  nature  of  the  soils  as  shown  by 
their  vegetation  and  analysis.  In  the  latter  respect  I  de- 
parted pointedly  from  the  then  prevailing  opinions,  by  which 
soil  analysis  was  held  to  be  practically  useless.  My  exploration 
of  the  State  had  shown  me  such  intimate  connection  between 
the  natural  vegetation  and  the  varying  cliemical  nature  of  the 
underlying  strata  that  have  contributed  to  soil  formation,  as 

116 


EUGKNK  WOLDEMAR  HII^GARD — SLAT^: 

greatly  to  encourage  the  belief  that  definite  results  could  be 
obtained  from  a  considerable  number  of  analyses,  of  soils 
classified  with  respect  both  to  their  origin  and  to  their  natural 
vegetation,  and  a  comparison  of  these  data  with  the  results  of 
cultivation.  Thus  it  would  become  possible,  after  all,  to  do 
what  Liebig  originally  expected  could  be  done,  viz. :  predict 
measurably  the  behavior  of  soils  in  cultivation  from  their 
chemical  composition.  The  lights  then  obtained  encouraged 
me  to  persevere  in  the  same  line  of  investigation,  in  the  face 
of  much  adverse  criticism,  when  wider  opportunities  presented 
themselves  afterwards.  By  the  aid  of  these  I  think  I  may 
fairly  claim  that  the  right  of  soil  analysis  to  be  considered  as 
an  essential  and  often  decisive  factor  in  the  a  priori  estimation 
of  the  cultural  value  of  virgin  soils  has  been  well  established 
alongside  of  the  limitations  imposed  by  physical  and  climatic 
conditions,  and  by  previous  intervention  of  culture.  Even 
apart  from  any  special  investigations  of  soil  composition,  the 
right  of  the  agricultural  interests  to  an  intelligent  and  intel- 
ligible description  of  the  surface  features  of  a  region,  given 
with  respect  to  its  agricultural  capabilities,  can  hardly  be  de- 
nied. Dr.  Owen,  among  the  older  American  geologists,  was 
the  one  who  kept  in  view  most  steadily  the  agricultural  in- 
terests. And  while  out  personal  intercourse  predisposed  me 
to  follow  his  example,  my  further  experience  has  only  served 
to  strengthen  my  conviction  in  that  respect.  No  troublesome 
agitation  occurred  to  obstruct  the  survey  in  Mississippi  after 
the  publication  of  my  report  in  i860." 

Having  succeeded  in  putting  the  survey  upon  a  more  stable 
and  assured  footing.  Dr.  Hilgard  might  well  assume  that  he 
had  earned  a  vacation ;  and  accordingly  he  made  arrangements 
to  spend  some  four  months  in  Europe  during  the  second  half 
of  i860.  This  took  on  the  color  of  a  wedding  journey,  for 
he  brought  his  wife  back  with  him  to  Oxford  in  November; 
almost  on  the  eve  of  the  Civil  War  that  was  to  convulse  the 
next  five  or  six  years,  dislocating  normal  activities  of  peaceful 
progress  like  the  prosecution  of  the  survey.  Under  the  ter- 
rible stress  brought  to  bear  within  the  State  by  the  impending 
conflict,  it  would  have  been  natural  to  await  complete  extinction 
of  the  appropriation;  but  instead  the  legislature  at  a  called 

117 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

session  in  August,  1861,  only  passed  an  act:  "Suspending  the 
appropriation  until  the  close  of  the  war  and  for  twelve  months 
thereafter,  except  that  the  sum  of  twelve  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  per  annum  shall  be  applied  to  the  salary  of  the  State 
Geologist,  and  the  purchase  of  such  chemicals  as  may  be 
necessary  to  carry  on  the  analysis  of  soils,  minerals  and 
mineral  waters,  and  enable  him  to  preserve  the  apparatus, 
analyses  and  other  property  of  the  State  connected  with  said 
survey."  In  the  form  given  to  this  action  we  can  read  a 
newly-enlightened  confidence  in  the  director  and  his  work. 
This  appropriation,  moreover,  was  actually  maintained  through 
the  entire  struggle  of  the  Confederacy,  and  so  far  as  the 
fortunes  of  war  permitted,  the  chemical  work  was  continued, 
and  at  times  also  the  field-work. 

The  scarcity  of  salt  suggested  utilizing  the  saline  waters 
common  in  southern  Mississippi,  and  the  pressing  need  of  ni- 
trates led  to  exploring  some  promising  limestone  caves.  Hil- 
gard  made  report  on  both  these  subjects  to  Governor  Pettus 
in  June,  1862.  Those  commissions  for  the  public  welfare 
barred  enlistment  in  army  service  when  the  university  fac- 
ulty was  disbanded  soon  after  the  beginning  of  active  hostil- 
ities in  Tennessee.  Unless  Hilgard's  detail  be  so  considered, 
to  install  calcium  Hghts  on  the  bluffs  above  Vicksburg  and 
illuminate  as  targets  any  Federal  gunboats  that  might  attempt 
to  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  shore-batteries  by  night.  Here,  to 
be  sure,  delays  in  obtaining  materials  and  in  construction  frus- 
trated execution  of  the  plan  at  the  final  passage  of  the  fleet, 
which  was  not  hindered  by  such  searchlights.  During  most 
of  the  wartime,  indeed,  Dr.  Hilgard  remained  at  Oxford, 
having  been  officially  placed  in  charge  of  the  university 
property  for  its  preservation.  Here  his  duties  were  no  sine- 
cure, because  he  was  located  in  a  belt  of  desolation  between 
opposed  armies  that  swept  back  and  forth  over  it.  The  col- 
lections of  the  survey  had  more  than  one  narrow  escape  from 
destruction  when  the  university  buildings  were  later  occupied 
hastily  as  hospitals,  but  they  came  ofl^  finally  without  material 
injury.  On  many  occasions,  too,  the  "State  Geologist"  was 
kept  very  busy  aiding  in  the  care  of  hospital  patients  or  in 
preparing  medical  supplies  for  them  in  his  laboratory.     But 

118 


EUGENE  WOI.DEMAR  HII^GARD — SI^ATE 

again  there  fell  quiet  intervals,  and  then  we  see  him  turning 
to  some  investigation.  In  such  a  period,  for  instance,  he  in- 
vented a  turpentine-lamp  for  domestic  use,  kerosene  being  un- 
procurable;  and,  incidentally  to  this,  he  determined  the  condi- 
tions under  which  the  distillate  from  crude  oil  of  turpentine 
that  has  been  digested  with  sulphuric  acid  contains  a  maximum 
of  the  desirable  terebene.  He  was  baffled,  though,  by  an  un- 
removable impurity  that  incrusted  his  lampwicks  beyond  what 
was  practically  allowed. 

The  interruptions  of  the  war-years  ceased  at  length,  and 
regular  effort  to  advance  the  survey  was  resumed.  This  may 
be  dated  in  July,  1866,  when  Dr.  George  Little  was  appointed 
Assistant  Geologist.  He  took  the  field  shortly  thereafter  for 
an  exploration  of  the  loess  region  from  Rodney,  Mississippi, 
to  its  farthest  point  in  Louisiana.  The  general  results  of  this 
expedition  were  summarized  for  the  Smithsonian  Contribu- 
tions, but  the  times  were  still  disturbed  and  no  detailed  report 
was  ever  made.  In  fact,  under  the  regime  then  imposed  upon 
the  State,  the  insecurity  and  the  difficulties  then  besetting  the 
office  of  State  Geologist  were  such  that  in  October,  1866,  Dr. 
Hilgard  was  induced  to  accept  a  permanent  transfer  to  the 
chair  of  chemistry  in  the  university.  Upon  his  recommenda- 
tion. Little  was  then  appointed  State  Geologist;  but  in  1870  he 
in  turn  exchanged  this  charge  for  a  professorship,  and  Hilgard 
became  again  director ;  but  unsalaried  and  relieved  from  any 
obligation  to  carry  on  field-work  personally.  This  step  seemed 
advisable  as  the  one  means  of  preventing  the  survey  either 
from  being  abolished  or  from  falling  into  wrong  hands ;  being 
evidently  dictated  by  unflagging  interest  in  the  Geological 
Survey  sustained  amid  the  claims  of  the  chair  of  chemistry. 
That  responsible  guidance  and  supervision  of  the  work  en- 
trusted to  successive  assistants  continued  until  the  autumn  of 
1872,  when  the  survey's  appropriation  was  suddenly  withheld 
under  an  arbitrary  ruling  of  the  State  Auditor,  and  its  activi- 
ties were  in  consequence  peremptorily  suspended.  We  learn 
that  this  perverse  obstruction  was  endured  with  acquiescence 
until  1906! 

While  discharging  his  duties  as  professor  of  chemistry  Hil- 
gard kept  mind  and  hand  constantly  upon  the  geological  sur- 

119 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MElMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

vey  during  his  remaining  years  of  service  at  the  University  of 
Mississippi ;  for  this  we  find  clear  testimony  in  a  series  of 
pubHshed  papers  belonging  to  the  period  1866-73.  These  deal 
at  first  with  geology  or  its  direct  bearings  upon  agriculture ;  but 
later  include  discussion  of  agricultural  education  also,  as  that 
grew  to  be  a  burning  question.  Some  changing  orientation  of 
central  purpose  is  reflected  probably  in  a  change  of  his  title 
to  "Professor  of  Experimental  and  Agricultural  Chemistry" 
that  falls  in  1871  and  could  be  taken  to  indicate  an  incipient 
shift  toward  developing  that  field  in  which  he  was  to  become 
an  authority  of  first  rank.  But  all  this  came  after  he  had 
gained  distinction  as  a  geologist ;  and  we  shall  adapt  our  ac- 
count best  to  that  view  of  the  sequences  if  we  round  out  the 
recital  of  what  Hilgard  accomplished  in  developing  the  geology 
of  Mississippi  and  Louisiana,  before  proceeding  past  the 
transition  to  his  later  occupation  with  other  problems. 

Overcoming  various  hindrances  whose  nature  and  source 
can  be  inferred  in  the  light  of  preceding  pages,  Hilgard  had 
made  a  good  showing  of  results  for  the  years  before  the  war. 
Orienting  himself  by  a  rapid  reconnaissance  in  1855,  the  ex- 
pedition of  the  next  year  enabled  him  to  determine  the  char- 
acter, stratigraphical  relations,  and  limits  of  the  carboniferous, 
cretaceous,  tertiary,  and  quaternary  beds  in  the  northeastern 
part  of  Mississippi.  That  season  he  located  the  ''Ripley 
Group"  and  made  collections  from  it ;  also  he  investigated 
closely  the  features  and  geological  relations  of  the  "Orange 
Sand,"  and  characterized  it  definitely  as  a  quaternary  deposit. 
The  atmosphere  being  cleared  after  the  removal  of  Harper, 
serious  tasks  could  be  continued  in  1858.  A  full  section  across 
the  tertiary  area  from  north  to  south  was  verified ;  the  fossil- 
iferous  localities  of  the  "J^^kson"  and  the  "Vicksburg"  stages 
were  subjected  to  detailed  examination;  the  infra-position  of 
the  latter  relatively  to  the  "Grand  Gulf"  group  was  put  beyond 
question.  The  campaign  of  1859  was  devoted  mainly 
to  detailing  previous  outlines,  and  its  net  outcome  is 
declared  to  have  confirmed  their  conclusions  as  well  as  com- 
pleted them,  so  bearing  witness  of  sound  preliminary  judgment. 
The  report  of  date  i860,  of  whose  fateful  postponement  we 
have  spoken  above,  contains  summary  and  analysis  of  all  these 

120 


KUG^NE  WOLDEMAR  HILGARD SLATE 

particulars.  Its  author's  modest  candor  did  not  stand  in  the 
way  of  claiming  for  it  in  after  years  that  "In  a  revised  edition 
the  report  would,  without  additional  field-work,  still  form  a 
pretty  complete  account  of  the  geological  and  agricultural 
features  of  the  States ;  especially  through  its  mapping  and  study~ 
of  the  cretaceous  and  tertiary  formations." 

The  survey  in  Mississippi  had  in  view  primarily  to  benefit 
that  one  State  and  to  develop  its  resources,  of  course.  Yet 
Hilgard  never  overlooked  the  gain  for  surveys  in  neighboring 
States  through  conference  and  co-operation,  as  his  meetings 
sought  with  Owen  and  Tuomey  could  testify.  Such  supports 
became  more  advantageous ;  or  we  may  say  they  were  seen 
to  be  necessary ;  where  it  was  plain  that  a  certain  geological 
unity  crossed  geographical  boundaries  as  in  the  case  of  Louisi- 
ana and  Mississippi.  Therefore,  we  must  regard  it  as  for- 
tunate that  circumstances  arose  to  place  in  Hilgard's  hands 
the  possibility  of  connected  treatment  for  geological  problems 
common  to  these  two  States,  that  led  to  the  recognition  of 
what  he  was  the  first  to  term  the  "Mississippi  Embayment," 
and  to  study  of  the  river  in  its  last  stretch  to  the  Gulf. 

The  initial  move  toward  that  end  was  made  in  1866',  when 
General  Humphreys,  chief  of  the  United  States  engineers,  pro- 
posed that  Professor  Hilgard  should  investigate  the  character 
and  the  geological  age  of  specimens  taken  from  a  well-boring 
at  New  Orleans  in  1856.  This  proposal,  which  was  accepted, 
followed  a  suggestion  from  Sir  Charles  Lyell  that  the  shells 
collected  while  boring  that  artesian  well  should  be  compared  by 
some  competent  authority  with  those  of  the  cretaceous  and 
tertiary  formations  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  with 
those  now  living  in  the  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  was 
anticipated  that  this  examination  should  settle  the  question 
whether  the  "Mississippi  River  is  flowing  through  the  delta 
region  in  a  channel  belonging  to  a  geological  epoch  antecedent 
to  the  present"  (Humphreys).  Here,  again,  the  consequences 
of  war  interfered  through  damage  due  to  exposure  in  the 
suite  of  specimens  available  at  the  New  Orleans  Academy  of 
Sciences.  For  that  reason  mainly  the  final  conclusion  could 
not  be  rendered  until  1870,  to  be  published  in  the  Report  of  the 
Mississippi  River  Commission  of  that  year.    Hilgard's  verdict 

121 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

was  decisive,  in  that  it  established  with  regard  to  forty  species 
of  shells  examined,  that  four  only  were  not  known  to  be  now 
living  in  the  waters  of  the  Gulf. 

A  second  direct  contact  with  the  geology  of  Louisiana 
followed  upon  a  proposition  coming  from  Professor  Henry 
in  Washington  that  Hilgard  should  inquire  into  the  age  and 
origin  of  the  rocksalt  deposit  in  Petit  Anse  Island  which  had 
been  a  source  of  supply  for  the  Confederates  during  the  war. 
This  came  in  1867,  and  under  the  auspices  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution;  it  would  involve  necessarily,  as  Hilgard  saw  at 
once,  a  general  study  of  geological  structure  on  the  Gulf  Coast 
from  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi  westward,  so  far  as  this 
was  not  yet  known,  and  he  welcomed  the  opportunity.  In  the 
prosecution  of  this  inquiry  the  local  Academy  joined  with  ac- 
tive interest  when  New  Orleans  was  reached,  after  descending 
the  river  from  Vicksburg  with  stops  for  investigation  at  vari- 
ous points,  to  secure  data  for  clearing  up  geological  questions. 

It  was  while  continuing  this  journey  down  the  river  that 
Hilgard's  attention  was  first  specially  directed  to  the  study  of 
the  so-called  "Mudlumps"  and  their  origin.  They  were  for- 
midable obstructions  to  the  navigation  of  the  channels  through 
the  delta;  proving  unmanageable  by  powerful  dredges,  con- 
tinually replacing  themselves  or  breaking  out  in  new  localities. 
These  "Evil  geniuses  of  the  passes"  had  it  is  true  been  observed 
by  Lyell  as  early  as  1849 ;  but  his  explanation  of  the  working 
causes  by  which  they  rise  was  incomplete,  and  the  geologists 
coming  after  him  had  taken  little  notice  or  none  of  the  pecu- 
liar phenomenon.  It  was  reserved  for  Hilgard  to  conjecture 
from  detailed  examination  of  them  upon  the  spot  how  the 
occurrence  of  mudlumps  is  correlated  with  the  existence  of 
ar  <•  impervious  substratum  of  clay  extending  seaward,  on 
wiiich  the  bar  deposit  can  dam  the  mud-layer  precipitated  from 
the  turbid  river  on  meeting  the  sea.  Extruded  by  hydro- 
static pressure  in  the  channels  and  marshes  above  the  bar,  that 
semifluid  mud  constitutes  mudlumps  wherever  local  conditions 
are  favorable.  This  solution  was  sustained  fully  by  physical, 
microscopic,  and  chemical  analyses  of  the  oozing  mud,  and  by 
exhaustive  discussion  of  the  prevailing  factors  that  caused 
mudlumps  to  be  largest  and  most  frequent.     The  details  of 

122 


KUGE:ne:  WOI.DKMAR  HILGARD SIvATE) 

the  definitive  report  are  to  be  found  in  the  American  Journal 
of  Science  for  1871. 

The  immediate  purpose  of  the  expedition  in  1867  carried  it, 
after  the  river  mouths  had  been  passed,  to  the  chain  of  "Five 
Islands"  of  which  Petit  Anse  is  one.  Thomassy  had  once  tra- 
versed this  ground,  describing  the  islands  as  due  to  ''Hydro- 
thermal  or  volcanic  forces."  This  was  vague  enough  to  leave 
the  door  open  for  an  origin  analogous  or  not  to  that  of  the 
mudlump-cones.  On  the  present  occasion  the  closer  examina- 
tion was  confined  to  Petit  Anse  and  its  two  neighbors,  obser- 
vation having  shown  that  the  five  islands  were  not  essentially 
diflferentiated.  With  habitual  scientific  caution  Hilgard  pro- 
nounced the  local  results  inconclusive  until  interpreted  through 
their  wider  connections  with  the  geological  formations  of 
Louisiana  and  Mississippi.  This  attitude  seems  to  have  stim- 
ulated provision  for  a  general  reconnaissance  of  the  former 
State,  for  which  funds  were  supplied  through  the  efforts  of 
the  New  Orleans  Academy  co-operating  with  the  State  Board 
of  Immigration ;  a  plain  instance  where  enthusiasm  and  tactful 
persuasion  succeeded  in  yoking  other  forces  toward  pursuit 
of  good  aims.  In  the  early  summer  of  1868  Hilgard  and  two 
companions  were  thus  enabled  to  employ  some  six  weeks  on 
a  line  extending  perhaps  six  hundred  miles  northward  from 
New  Orleans.  Though  the  exploration  was  perforce  con- 
ducted at  a  rapid  pace,  it  yielded  data  for  determining  the 
salient  features  of  the  geology  and  of  the  surface  conforma- 
tion; valuable  specimens  to  the  number  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  were  collected,  and  a  few  months  later  the  first  geological 
sketch-map  of  Louisiana  could  be  submitted  to  the  meeting 
of  the  American  Association  at  Chicago.  The  general  accu- 
racy of  that  map  stood  well  the  test  of  subsequent  researches 
that  have  amplified  it  and  supplied  missing  detail ;  for  instance, 
the  State  geological  surveys  under  Hopkins  and  Lockett.  The 
relatively  fruitful  and  permanent  outcome  of  so  brief  and 
hurried  reconnaissance  was  due  largely  to  its  leader's  happy 
inference  that  the  event  so  fairly  justified,  of  important  geolo- 
gical similarities  between  Louisiana  and  Mississippi  which 
allowed  some  conclusions  from  the  study  of  one  State  to  be 
extended  to  the  other.     Especially  the  legend  previously  cur- 

123 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY   BIOGRAPHICAI,   MEMOIRS VOL.    IX 

rent  was  cancelled,  that  the  ''greater  part  of  Louisiana  is  allu- 
vial," on  proof  that  much  of  the  prairie  country  is  underlaid 
by  what  Hilgard  had  in  the  preceding  year  first  named  the 
"Port  Hudson  formation."  This  was  found  replaced  farther 
north  by  the  marine  eocene  in  the  hilly  country,  and  at  the  Five 
Islands  by  formations  of  cretaceous  age,  of  which  their  bluffs 
show  the  southern  outcrop.  The  careful  study  naturally  re- 
quisite for  the  elaboration  of  all  such  important  conclusions 
that  were  to  revise  older  ideas  was  carried  on  through  the  next 
four  years.  Its  results,  including  analyses  of  rock  and  soil, 
being  then  published  by  the  New  Orleans  Academy  in  1873. 
And  finally  Hilgard  was  able  to  co-ordinate  this  reconnais- 
sance with  other  studies  in  Mississippi  and  reach  safe  decision 
about  Petit  Anse;  the  problem  that  had  shown  the  need  of 
comprehensive  view  and  set  on  foot  the  movement  to  obtain  it. 
That  full  discussion  was  published  as  No.  248  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Contributions  in  1872. 

The  solid  achievements  in  geology  that  are  here  condensed 
into  briefest  account  had  strongly  interested  experts  like  Dana, 
who  counseled  wider  publicity  for  the  parts  embodied  in  that 
report  of  i860  which  the  war  had  shelved  temporarily.  Ac- 
cordingly Hilgard  published  in  1866-67  several  articles  in  the 
American  Journal  of  Science  on  the  geology  of  Mississippi  and 
the  Southwest  generally  whose  matter,  as  he  tells  us,  ex- 
cerpted and  expanded  the  earlier  substance  of  the  report. 
Here  belong,  for  example,  the  papers  on  "The  Quaternary 
Formations  of  Mississippi ;"  and  on  "The  Tertiary  Formations 
of  the  Southwest."  But  we  begin  now  to  find  a  parallel  line  of 
publication  on  subjects  connected  with  agriculture  and  agri- 
cultural education  to  which  he  was  giving  increased  attention. 
The  first  important  title  there  belongs  to  1870 ;  it  reads  "On  the 
Maintenance  of  Fertility  in  Soils."  So  it  may  be  held  sig- 
nificant of  a  new  trend  that  after  presenting  at  the  meeting 
of  the  American  Association  in  1871  a  discussion  of  "The  Ge- 
ological History  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,"  Hilgard  went  on  to 
Chicago  as  delegate  from  his  university  to  the  first  convention 
of  Agricultural  Colleges  established  under  the  Morrill  Act  of 
1862,  that  Mississippi  was  intending  to  avail  itself  of.  It  is 
worth  remarking  that  Hilgard  and  Gilman  met  for  the  first 

124 


KUGKNE:   W0I.DE:MAR   HII^GARD SLATE 

time  at  this  convention;  perhaps  a  fateful  conjunction  for  the 
former.  Gihnan  was  then  in  the  service  of  Yale,  but  his  keen 
insight  for  men's  adaptations  could  not  have  overlooked  Hil- 
gard's  quality ;  and  a  tenacious  memory  would  hold  the  impres- 
sion for  use  in  California  a  few  years  later. 

With  agricultural  education  as  one  chief  topic  before  the  con- 
vention, the  so-called  ''Michigan  plan''  was  advocated  by  the 
representative  of  that  university,  under  which  the  students' 
time  was  devoted  in  large  part  to  manual  labor  on  a  model  farm 
in  order  to  ''Maintain  the  habit  of  work  and  prevent  them 
from  being  educated  away  from  farming  pursuits  by  too  much 
indulgence  in  academic  studies."  But  Hilgard's  independence 
of  judgment  asserted  itself;  both  by  opposing  that  view  in  the 
convention,  and  by  the  poise  of  the  report  to  his  own  trustees. 
It  is  encouraging  to  note,  that  such  moderation  earned  respect 
from  Michigan  as  well  as  from  Yale — subsequent  events  were 
to  prove  this.  How  clearly  that  early  report  held  the  balance 
between  exaggerating  tendencies  which  Hilgard  thereafter 
maintained  steadily  is  visible  in  his  own  summary  which  runs : 
"I  concluded  essentially  that  neither  of  the  two  extreme  plans 
should  be  adopted,  typified  respectively  by  the  farm-school 
idea  followed  in  Michigan  and  Pennsylvania  and  by  the  Shef- 
field Scientific  School  at  Yale.  The  chief  object  of  the  State 
colleges  should  be  to  educate  teachers  and  leaders  of  progress 
in  agriculture;  uninstructive  labor  should  not  be  enforced  upon 
the  students  save  to  the  extent  of  familiarizing  them  duly  with 
the  actual  performance  of  farm  work."  The  trustees  at  Ox- 
ford were  wise  enough  to  begin  by  following  these  suggestions ; 
and  one  part  of  their  action  was  to  select  the  editor  of  an  ag- 
ricultural journal  to  be  "Professor  of  Practical  Agriculture," 
Hilgard's  title  being  changed  to  "Professor  of  Experimental 
and  Agricultural  Chemistry."  The  new  arrangement  had  a 
transient  success  in  gathering  a  considerable  group  of  students ; 
but  they  dwindled  after  a  fashion  that  repeated  experience 
was  to  make  familiar,  and  nearly  disappeared  by  the  close 
of  the  session.  In  another  particular,  too,  that  first  venture 
was  ominously  prophetic ;  for  at  the  succeeding  session  of  the 
legislature  these  results  were  made  a  pretext  for  launching  an 
attack  upon  the  appropriation.     With  the  sequel,  also  to  be 

125 


NATIONAI,  ACADEMY   BIOGRAPHICAI,   MEMOIRS VOL.    IX 

repeated  in  other  States,  in  a  proposition  to  separate  the  Ag 
ricultural  College  from  the  university.  Hence,  by  November, 
1872,  we  find  Hilgard  in  a  defensive  campaign  against  this  agi- 
tation ;  delivering  addresses  on  such  subjects  as  "Progressive 
Agriculture  and  Industrial  Education."  But'  the  difficulties  of 
the  position  thickened  as  time  went  on,  instead  of  yielding ;  so 
it  is  without  surprise  that  we  finally  find  him  accepting  in  1873 
a  call  to  Ann  Arbor  as  "Professor  of  Geology  and  Natural 
History."  This  was  a  repetition,  with  conditions  that  improved 
it  to  the  level  of  acceptance,  of  proposals  made  in  187 1  and 
again  in  1872  that  had  been  declined.  In  August,  1873,  the 
family  removed  to  their  new  surroundings. 

Meanwhile  Hilgard  continued  steadily  productive  and  in- 
creased solidly  his  professional  reputation.  The  article  on  "Soil 
Analyses  and  their  Utility"  appeared  in  1872,  whose  tone  of 
rather  drastic  criticism  upon  Johnson,  of  Yale,  was  provoked 
by  some  utterances  of  the  latter  about  the  same  matter.  He 
was  entrenched  already  behind  his  meritorious  books:  "How 
Crops  Grow,"  "How  Crops  Feed",  while  Hilgard  was  at  that 
period,  in  his  own  overmodest  estimate,  "An  unknown  writer 
who  had  not  yet  won  his  spurs."  So  one  rejoices  to  learn  how 
temperately  Johnson  made  rejoinder;  and  how  a  pleasant 
friendship  of  the  two  men,  continued  by  correspondence  and 
at  the  meetings  of  the  American  Association,  grew  out  of  the 
first  controversy's  warmth,  and  bore  convincing  testimony  to 
scientific  candor  on  both  sides. 

Hilgard  then  followed  that  first  paper  quickly  with  two 
others  on  the  physical  analysis  of  soils.  And  out  of  his 
thought  dwelling  persistently  on  methods  of  executing  such 
analyses  was  evolved  his  "Soil  elutriator"  that  has  since  come 
into  such  extended  use  as  a  standard  instrument  for  its 
purpose,  on  account  of  its  perfected  improvement  in  consist- 
ency of  results.  It  was  a  part  of  the  investigation  that  led  to 
devising  Hilgard's  form  of  elutriator  to  study  anew  the  dif- 
fusion of  clay  in  water,  with  the  conditions  of  its  flocculation 
and  precipitation.  Here  he  discovered  independently  the  main 
conclusions  reached  by  Schlosing  somewhat  earlier,  but  whose 
published  form  in  the  Comptes  Rendiis  had  not  arrived  at 
Oxford.     The  dates  of  Hilgard's  papers  on  this  subject,  as 

126 


KUGE:nK   WOLDEMAR  HILGARD — SlyATE) 

they  appeared  in  the  American  Journal  of  Science,  were  1873 
and  1874. 

The  life  at  the  University  of  Michigan  opened  under  favor- 
able auspices.  President  Angell  was  noted  for  promoting  cor- 
dial relations  among  his  colleagues,  and  between  them  and 
groups  of  their  prominent  town  neighbors.  He  was  a  praise- 
worthy leader,  too,  in  fostering  simplicity  of  living  and  the 
types  of  intimacy  that  are  apt  to  accompany  it;  the  elaborate- 
ness and  the  scale  of  expenditure  were  still  absent  that  have 
later  brought  an  attendant  sophistication  into  many  university 
communities.  Welcomed  in  this  circle,  Hilgard  was  not  made 
to  feel  either  any  offensive  reminder  that  he  came  to  Ann 
Arbor  direct  from  a  Southern  State.  And  then,  as  regarded 
his  title,  against  whose  over-comprehensiveness  for  a  single 
chair  he  had  not  failed  to  file  remonstrance  in  accepting  it, 
the  apprehension  had  outrun  reality.  Assistants  were  duly 
provided  for  botany  and  zoology,  relieving  Hilgard  in  those 
directions  of  all  but  organizing  supervision,  and  leaving  rea- 
sonable freedom  to  devote  himself  where  his  more  vital  in- 
terests in  geology  and  mineralogy  called  him.  Yet,  those  two 
years  at  Michigan  were  in  sum  rather  a  period  of  marking 
time,  though  strewn  abundantly  with  recognition  and  other 
pleasant  experiences ;  it  seems  clear  that  Hilgard  looked  upon 
them  in  retrospect  more  as  an  intermezzo  between  the  two 
strenuous  campaigns  of  his  life,  in  Mississippi  and  in  Call 
f ornia.  His  classes  were  large  and  appreciative ;  but  he  found 
himself  fretting  noticeably  at  being  debarred  from  opportunity 
worthy  of  his  powers  for  active  investigation.  It  was  no  satis- 
factory outlet  to  inculcate  respect  for  university  furniture ;  nor 
to  lend  vigorous  support  in  toning  up  student  discipline ;  though 
there  again  his  capacity  for  leadership  soon  became  apparent. 
Neither  was  it  a  complete  consolation  to  be  located  once  more 
within  easy  access  to  the  older  civilizations  which  had  been 
sensitively  missed  at  Oxford,  except  what  correspondence 
could  do.  Now  frequent  personal  contact  with  notable  men 
became  possible,  and  it  is  certain  that  Hilgard  relished  keenly 
that  feature  of  his  new  position. 

But  in  some  larger  things  his  initiative  met  with  mediocre 
success.     A  profitable  suggestion  that  he  should  make  his  ex- 

T27 


NATlONAIv  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

perience  available  to  the  State  geological  survey  and  care  for 
the  agricultural  aspects  of  it  that  were  being  neglected  entirely, 
was  thwarted  by  a  refractory  and  unsympathetic  State  Geolo- 
gist, though  advocated  warmly  by  President  Angell.  Hilgard's 
natural  instinct  to  infuse  a  larger  quantum  of  scientific  ideas 
mto  agriculture  was  baffled,  besides,  by  the  segregation  of  the 
Agricultural  College  into  a  separate  institution  at  Lansing  and 
the  unshakable  dominance  there  of  so-called  "practical  tend- 
encies:" He.  indeed,  attacked  that  heresy  early  and  with 
his  accustomed  vigor  at  a  convention  in  Kalamazoo,  so  that  he 
described  himself  as:  "Reading  the  delegates  the  riot  act  about 
their  supineness  in  advancing  rational  agriculture  in  their 
State;  and  holding  up  before  them  his  Mississippi  gospel  that 
since  world-competition  has  compelled  the  use  of  brains,  be- 
sides brawn,  in  farming,  it  must  become  indispensable  for 
agricultural  colleges  to  bring  forth  leaders."  But  though  he 
brought  matters  to  the  pass  of  discussion  in  popular  meetings, 
he  failed  to  make  sufficient  headway  against  the  settled  ad- 
hesion to  this  "Michigan  plan."  After  combating  at  every 
opportunity  that  "Low  view  of  their  functions,"  he  was 
obliged  to  "leave  it  to  the  twentieth  century  to  bring  about 
any  competent  realization  of  the  needed  change  in  policy." 
Satisfied  that  the  "Farm-school  was  a  plain  violation  of  both 
the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  Morrill  Act,  which  calls  for 
instruction  in  the  sciences  related  to  agriculture  and  the  me- 
chanic arts,"  he  proceeds,  "I  once  wrote  to  Mr.  Morrill  asking 
for  his  own  interpretation  of  the  act.  His  reply  was  that 
its  language  was  plain  enough,  but  that  he  wished  to  allow 
liberty  to  each  State  to  adapt  the  college  to  its  needs.  That 
these  needs  were  not  farm-schools  only  was  soon  made  evident 
by  the  establishment  of  academic  departments  in  all  the 
colleges  that  at  first  adopted  the  Michigan  plan :  so  the  event 
has  justified  my  contention." 

Obstructed  then  by  these  hindrances  to  his  first  choices  of 
activity,  Hilgard  sought  a  partial  substitute  in  constructive 
writing.  For  his  own  classes  a  better  adapted  textbook  on 
geology;  and  at  Dana's  solicitation  an  extended  review  of 
Mallet's  frictional  theory  of  vulcanicity  that  excited  general 
attention  and  discussion,  beside  calling  forth  an  appreciative 

128 


DUG^NE;  WOIyDDMAR  HII^GARD — SI.AT^ 

letter  from  Mallet  himself.  But  much  writing  seemed  incom- 
patible with  the  condition  of  his  eyes,  which  began  to  trouble 
him  so  seriously  that  an  operation  to  correct  strabismus  was 
proposed.  Not  assenting  to  this,  he  was  confirmed  in  that 
judgment  by  his  brother,  whom  he  consulted  in  New  York, 
and  who  recommended  again,  as  in  the  early  years  abroad, 
rather  an  open-air  life  to  strengthen  the  nerves.  But  that  idea 
could  not  be  entertained  under  the  circumstances.  Hilgard 
then  used  his  chance  to  attend  the  session  of  the  American 
Association  at  Hartford,  and  thus  casually  renewed  his  ac- 
quaintance with  Gilman  who  was  now,  in  1874,  president  of 
the  University  of  California.  It  transpired  that  he  was  charged 
to  select  a  suitable  professor  of  agriculture,  the  chair  being 
vacant  by  a  dismissal  for  political  tactics.  The  meeting  must 
have  seemed  providential  to  Gilman;  without  delay  he  offered 
the  professorship  to  Hilgard,  and  met  the  natural  objection 
to  taking  so  sudden  a  leap  in  the  dark  resourcefully  by  a 
compromise  proposal.  This  was  to  the  effect  that  Hilgard 
should  return  with  him  to  California,  obtaining  a  leave  of 
absence  from  Ann  Arbor,  "To  see  and  be  seen,  and  to  deliver  a 
short  course  of  lectures  on  agriculture  at  the  University  of 
California."  As  might  have  been  anticipated.  President  An- 
gell  was  up  in  arms  against  the  plan:  "Warning  strenuously 
against  going  to  such  a  hornet's  nest  as  the  university  at 
Berkeley  was  reputed  to  be."  Nevertheless,  Hilgard  tele- 
graphed his  acceptance  of  the  temporary  engagement  to  Gil- 
man, whom  he  was  able  to  join  at  Chicago;  so  the  two  men 
made  the  rest  of  the  long  journey  together,  which  had  not  yet 
lost  its  charm  of  being  a  novelty  and  an  adventure.  The 
breadth  of  the  desert  belt  beyond  which  the  western  coast  lies 
has  not  yet  ceased  to  be  deterrent ;  it  speaks  plainly  of  an  ob- 
scuring isolation  that  professional  ambition  will  always  shun. 
In  those  days  the  separation  was  felt  strongly,  sufficing  to  halt 
all  but  the  pioneer's  enterprise,  or  a  firm  enough  faith  in  one's 
power  to  make  oneself  heard  from  California  in  the  larger 
world,  whose  appreciation  is  success.  The  apostolic  motive 
had  been  quick  within  Hilgard  from  the  beginning  of  his  onset 
in  Mississippi,  when  he  was  obliged  to  find  sustenance  mainly 
through  internal  conviction.     But  he  could  enter  California 

129 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — VOE.   IX 

now  fortified  in  addition  with  an  authority  conceded  to  rec- 
ognized accompHshment.  Still,  even  so,  it  would  have  been 
foolhardy  to  commit  his  family  fortunes  to  this  hazard  without 
first  feeling  out  the  terrain  by  something  like  the  scouting 
expedition  in  which  he  was  here  engaged. 

In  the  long  course  of  that  journey  we  see  Hilg^ard  exposed 
to  his  companion's  tried  gift  of  persuasion,  directed  toward  fix- 
ing him  in  secure  alliance  for  that  severe  campaign  which 
Gilman  knew  to  be  impending,  and  in  which  the  aid  would  be 
invaluable  of  a  professor  who  had  served  his  novitiate  al- 
ready in  dealing  with  legislatures  and  with  reluctant  or 
suspicious  farmers.  Such  a  trained  instrumentality  fitted  Gil- 
man's  wise  tactics  to  protect  the  college  of  agriculture  against 
being  dwarfed  into  a  trade-school  or  derogating  otherwise 
from  its  function  of  genuinely  capable  leadership,  by  placing 
a  man  of  acknowledged  scientific  rank  in  charge  of  its  devel- 
opment. There  is  of  irony  more  than  a  touch  in  the  known  se- 
quel; it  was  Gilman  who  fell  away  from  the  alliance  before 
it  could  be  made  really  operative.  His  transfer  to  Baltimore 
m  1 8/5  left  Hilgard  to  contend  with  his  difficulties  single- 
handed,  bare  of  that  support  which  alone  had  made  the 
position  look  acceptable. 

In  that  preliminary  season  of  1874,  however,  everything 
seemed  of  good  promise  on  all  sides.  During  six  weeks  Hil- 
gard delivered  an  eflfective  course  of  lectures  at  the  university 
on  "The  Origin,  Properties  and  Functions  of  Soils,"  to  an 
audience  of  perhaps  twenty-five,  comparatively  large  for  the 
conditions  and  mostly  graduate  students,  the  scope  of  whose 
purposes  made  them  available.  Though  to  some  the  subject- 
matter  might  sound  a  little  remote,  their  unflagging  interest 
was  held  by  this  contact  with  a  "prime-mover"  of  the  scien- 
tific world,  fed  from  the  same  sources  as  Bunsen,  but  no  mere 
echo  of  his  teacher.  The  lectures  appeared  in  published  form 
shortly  and  aflfected  noticeably  a  larger  public;  the  leaven  be- 
gan at  once  to  work,  for  we  learn :  "They  served  as  a  basis  of 
conciliation  between  the  patrons  of  husbandry  and  the  regents 
of  the  University."  Nevertheless,  after  even  this  measure 
of  prompt  success,  Hilgard  assures  us  that  he  went  back 
to  Ann  Arbor :  "Not  without  a  lingering  thought  of  returning 

130 


DUG^NE:  WOIyDEjMAR  HII^GARD — SIvATE) 

to  California,  but  also  without  encouraging  in  any  definite  way 
the  reiterated  suggestions  of  Dr.  Gilman  to  that  effect."  It 
appears  to  have  needed  the  hard  winter  1874-75  to  turn  the 
scale,  by  causing  reflection  whether  it  would  be  advisable  to 
remain  in  a  climate  that  subjected  the  whole  family  to  such 
vicissitudes  frequently,  accustomed  as  they  were  to  the  mild 
seasons  of  Mississippi.  February  brought  also  a  rather  serious 
illness  to  Hilgard,  followed  by  a  slow  convalescence  and  the 
medical  dictum  that  winters  in  Ann  Arbor  were  too  severe. 
Upon  this  situation  fell  the  notification  of  formal  election  to 
the  chair  of  agriculture  at  Berkeley,  to  date  from  October,  1874, 
with  its  salary.  But  still  he  wavered.  ''After  some  hesitation, 
I  wrote  a  letter  of  acceptance,  amid  the  protests  of  my  friends 
in  Ann  Arbor,  especially  of  Dr.  Angell,  who  said  that  if  I 
would  go  he  would  give  me  chance  to  repent  by  holding  the 
chair  vacant  for  six  months."  Here  is  the  pendant  picture  of 
arrival:  "When,  after  an  uneventful  overland  voyage,  we 
landed  in  Oakland,  I  found  to  my  intense  disappointment  that 
Dr.  Gilman  was  on  the  point  of  leaving  the  University  of 
California  for  the  presidency  of  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
at  Baltimore.  Had  I  known  this,  I  might  never  have  left  Ann 
Arbor,  and  1  thought  for  a  moment  of  turning  round  imme- 
diately. But  Dr.  Gilman  protested  that  I  ought  at  least  to  try 
and  study  the  situation ;  and,  although  he  was  leaving,  I  would 
have  the  strong  help  of  the  Board  of  Regents,  and  a  new 
and  fruitful  field  of  investigation  instead  of  the  mere  routine 
of  teaching  at  Ann  Arbor.  And  he  gave  me  as  his  farewell  a 
numerously  attended  reception  at  which  he  introduced  me  to 
a  large  number  of  influential  people  with  warm  recommenda- 
tions for  aid  in  my  task.  So  I  did  not  return  to  Ann  Arbor, 
but  resolved  to  fight  it  out  as  I  had  done  in  Mississippi  be- 
fore. The  fight  turned  out  to  be  quite  as  hard  as  anticipated, 
for  a  number  of  years.  But  I  won  in  the  end;  and  the  cli- 
matic advantages  proved  for  myself  and  my  family  an  ample 
of?^set  in  the  prolongation  of  life  and  health  to  the  social  pleas- 
antness we  had  relinquished  in  making  the  change."  Perhaps 
this  account  is  not  wholly  free  from  satirical  intent.  But  pen- 
nmg  it  in  1912,  Hilgard  could  afford  to  speak  with  the  generous 
security  of  a  man  who  had  habitually  faced  heavy  odds  and 

131 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

overcome  them ;  and  seeing  his  term  of  service  to  the  country 
at  large  lengthened,  as  in  human  estimate  we  must  believe,  he 
learned  to  acquiesce  unresentfully  in  the  shuffle  by  which  he 
figured  as  Oilman's  important  legacy  to  California.  There  is 
a  heavy  debit  in  the  balance-sheet,  however,  wherever  a  talent 
like  Hilgard's  is  applied  to  a  second  burden  of  pioneering  and 
in  ripened  development  is  confronted  with  those  wasteful  hin- 
drances which  accompany  foundation-laying  in  newer  com- 
munities. Unless  this  is  realized  properly,  his  record  in  Cal- 
ifornia— massive  performance  though  it  is — will  appear  dis- 
counted as  compared  with  what  those  thirty  years  might  have 
represented  in  the  same  tireless  continuance  of  activities  already 
begun.  Without  the  consideration  that  it  qualifies  the  medium 
and  not  the  man,  we  might  see  some  pathetic  shadow  in  this 
memorial  comment,  across  its  else  unstinted  praise:  "Gauged 
by  the  time  and  opportunity,  Hilgard's  will  remain  a  great 
work.  The  results  of  his  labors  are  in  the  warp  of  California's 
first  half-century  of  intellectual  and  industrial  life,  and  upon 
such  enduring  work  as  he  achieved  will  be  spread  the  splendid 
fabric  of  the  coming  advancement  and  development  of  our 
State.  He  did  his  best  work  for  agriculture  in  the  university 
by  making  the  greatness  of  its  future  secure." 

It  is  enlightening  preparation  for  tracing  the  sequel,  to 
look  back  deliberately  upon  some  elements  in  the  combination 
that  Hilgard  was  asked  to  shape  for  the  good  of  California, 
and  that  meant  for  him,  through  a  long  series  of  years  to  come, 
deadweight  to  lift  or  perverse  views  to  correct.  Within  the 
university,  the  "strong  help  from  the  Regents,"  in  the  words 
of  Oilman's  assurance,  was  not  yet  in  evidence.  Indeed,  it 
was  the  contemporary  judgment  about  that  Board  that  Hil- 
gard's promptly  aggressive  campaign  was  disquieting  to  them ; 
their  counsel  of  opportunism  was  rather  to  await  favoring 
winds  placidly.  Neither  was  this  policy  disturbed  by  any 
action  of  the  new  president,  himself  a  busy  scholar  and  sympa- 
thetic to  Hilgard's  scientific  attitude,  but  prone  to  shrink  from 
any  array  of  contending  forces.  The  eyes  of  the  faculty 
were  opened  to  the  danger  for  the  university  as  an  institution 
of  the  strong  movement  on  foot  to  divorce  its  College  of  Agri- 
culture.    In  warding  oflf  that  ruinous  separation  there  was 

132 


^UGE:NE:,  WOLDDMAR  HIIvGARD SI.ATK 

much  active  co-operation  from  his  colleagues.  Otherwise  Hil- 
gard  was  in  a  position  to  give  more  than  he  received  from 
them,  by  taking  a  leading  part,  through  the  weight  of  his  own 
broad  culture  that  made  him  charitable  and  tolerant  for  other 
specialists,  in  the  general  effort  then  engaging  the  attention 
of  scientific  professors  to  gain  due  foothold  in  the  curriculum. 
But  we  cannot  be  sure  that  his  tolerance  was  repaid  in  full, 
when  it  came  to  the  question  of  supporting  loyally  his  wise 
view  of  the  fundamentals  in  agricultural  education.  There  he 
wielded  a  free  lance  for  many  years  before  he  could  carry 
conviction  among  his  associates.  The  attendance  of  agricul- 
tural students  remained  near  zero  in  those  first  years ;  so  that 
a  man  less  courageous  in  cherishing  ideals  might  easily  have 
had  recourse  to  some  new  recipe  more  highly  flavored  to  at- 
tract a  constituency;  but  Hilgard  elected  to  stand  firm  and 
bide  his  time.  Thus  it  came  that  he  took  upon  himself  the 
teaching  of  other  sciences  not  then  provided  for  in  the  faculty, 
notably  of  botany  and  mineralogy ;  a  widening  of  actual  scope 
in  his  chair  beyond  its  nominal  obligations  that  contrasts  with 
the  supplementary  relief  from  multifarious  duties  that  had 
been  contrived  for  him  at  Michigan. 

Outside  the  university,  Hilgard  found  great  nakedness  of 
serviceable  connections  until  he  built  them  up.  No  State 
Survey  was  in  existence,  at  first  or  afterwards,  to  stimulate 
into  co-ordinated  action — a  single  effort  in  the  direction  of 
having  one  organized  was  so  hopelessly  rebuffed,  the  situation 
being  prejudiced  by  previous  unfortunate  relations  with  a 
United  States  Geological  Survey  in  the  State,  that  even  Hil- 
gard's  fighting  spirit  must  judge  further  attempt  futile.  In 
this  respect  again  the  comparison  was  not  favorable  to  Cal- 
ifornia ;  with  either  Mississippi  or  Michigan  as  the  other  term. 
It  may  sound  a  hard  saying,  though  it  is  scarcely  an  untrue  one, 
that  some  provincial  atmosphere  was  still  clinging  about  Cal- 
ifornia, one  peculiarity  of  whose  history  turns  at  several  points 
upon  the  reactions  of  a  community  that  was  less  far  advanced 
to  quickening  influences  exerted  by  the  College  of  California 
and  its  successor,  the  State  University. 

The  first  two  or  three  years  of  Hilgard's  new  official  rela- 
tions were  the  reverse  of  encouraging,  moreover,  on  account 

133 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

of  a  newspaper  campaign  against  the  Regents  which  did 
not  fail  to  inckide  attacks  upon  a  professor  who  had  replaced 
a  dismissed  popular  favorite.  So  in  unavoidable  self-defense, 
he  was  compelled  to  divert  a  good  share  of  valuable  energy 
into  a  series  of  articles  in  local  journals,  where  he  argued 
once  more  the  case  for  a  college  of  agriculture,  founded  on 
progressive  scientific  investigation  of  conditions  and  on  im- 
proved adaptation  of  methods,  in  addition  to  transmitting  a 
standard  tradition  about  practice.  Nor  could  he  in  prudence 
rest  satisfied  with  printed  presentation;  so  he  did  not  delay 
beginning  systematic  appearance  at  farmers'  meetings,  in 
order  to  dissolve  opposition  and  convert  adverse  opinion. 
Amid  such  surroundings  we  find  this  favored  disciple  of  Bun- 
sen  and  geologist  of  national  repute  brilliantly  successful  by 
his  conciliatory  tone  and  tactful  utterance,  on  the  testimony 
of  an  expert  eye-witness  in  1876:  "The  room  was  not  large, 
and  was  crowded  with  men  of  some  prominence  in  farming 
and  hostile  to  the  university  because  they  really  believed  that 
the  College  of  Agriculture  ought  to  be  snatched  from  ruinous 
association  with  a  so-called  'classical  institution.'  It  was  a 
stormy  assembly,  but  when  there  came  a  lull  the  chairman 
asked  Hilgard  to  speak.  He  rose  alertly,  showing  them  a  slim, 
graceful  figure  and  a  scholarly  face  illumined  with  an  eager- 
ness, cordiality  and  brightness  of  expression  which  seemed  to 
say  to  them :  I  never  was  in  such  a  delightful  place  before  in 
my  life.  When  he  began  to  speak  in  a  low,  conversational 
voice,  every  man  was  at  attention.  He  was  saying  that  no  one 
could  do  much  for  farming  unless  he  had  personal  knowledge 
and  support  of  farmers;  that  he  had  come  to  California  to 
try,  with  their  aid,  to  know  California  from  the  rocks  to  the 
sky,  and  proposed  to  use  all  that  he  had  learned  in  other  lands 
merely  as  a  help  to  begin  to  know  California,  which  he  had 
already  perceived  to  be  different  from  any  other  land  in 
which  he  had  lived  and  worked.  On  his  father's  farm  in 
Illinois  he  learned  that  soil  differed  when  it  came  from  dif- 
ferent rocks,  when  it  was  moved  about  in  different  ways  and 
when  other  things  were  mixed  with  it,  and  since  boyhood  he 
had  been  studying  the  rocks,  the  soils,  the  plants  in  the  hope 
of  matching  them  up,  to  get  the  best  crops  and  the  most  money 

134 


EUGENE  WOLDEMAR  HILGARD — SEATE 

in  farming — and  then  followed  a  charming  half-hour  with  soil 
formation  and  movement,  tillage  and  fertilization,  without  a 
scientific  term,  without  reference  to  a  chemical  formula — all 
straight  farming  talk  about  soils  and  plants.  Finally,  he  said 
he  had  come  to  find  out  how  these  things  worked  in  California. 
He  particularly  wished  to  know  whether  California  farmers 
had  anything  so  hard  to  handle  as  the  gumbo  soil  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley;  and  this  was  a  master-stroke.  Before  he 
could  regain  his  seat,  questions  were  fired  at  him  from  all 
over  the  room,  and  he  answered  them  readily  and  confidently, 
until  the  meeting  closed  after  half  an  hour  of  such  friendly 
and  informal  conference." 

There  were  repetitions  by  the  score  of  like  sessions  during 
the  first  few  years,  resulting  in  such  approval  of  Hilgard's 
announced  purposes  that  the  segregation  of  the  College  of  Ag- 
riculture from  the  rest  of  the  university  was  barred  in  1879 
by  an  article  in  the  State  constitution  of  that  date;  the  adop- 
tion of  which  article  moreover  was  significantly  moved  by 
the  State  Master  of  the  very  organization  in  which  opposition 
to  Hilgard  had  centered.  But  while  Hilgard  put  all  necessary 
thought  upon  attaining  these  ends,  and  his  vigor  was  able  to 
secure  a  complete  victory  there,  be  sure  he  would  rate  them 
always  as  incidents  of  his  main  problem ;  let  us  say  facts  of  its 
setting,  duly  to  be  dealt  with  like  any  other  facts  in  a  scientific 
procedure.  Accordingly,  he  was  continuously  and  absorbingly 
occupied,  too,  in  those  years  with  investigations  covering  the 
soils  and  the  climates  of  California,  both  of  which  he  declares 
to  have  presented  many  new  features  that  demanded  ma- 
terial modifications  among  ideas  that  he  had  considered  set- 
tled by  previous  experiences.  He  proceeds  in  explanation : 
"Six  months  of  clouds  and  flowers,  six  months  of  dust  and 
sky,  were  to  some  extent  familiar  through  my  stay  in  Anda- 
lusia ;  and  I  saw  here  in  California  the  very  weeds  that  I  had 
seen  on  the  Mediterranean  coast,  evidently  brought  over  unin- 
tentionally by  the  Franciscan  missionaries  in  the  agricultural 
seeds  they  imported.  But  I  had  paid  little  attention  to  soil 
conditions  while  in  Spain,  and  was  now  confronted  by  the 
fact  that  not  only  native  plants,  but  also  eastern  and  European 
trees,   remained  green  and  bore  fruit  during  six  months  of 

135 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

rainless  hot  summer.  The  investigation  of  this  subject,  and 
of  the  connected  topic  of  'alkaH-soils,'  have  since  become  the 
chief  study  of  my  Hfe,  the  direct  inquiries  into  geological  prob- 
lems being  relegated  to  the  second  place.  I  soon  found  that 
in  order  to  teach  my  agricultural  students  usefully,  I  should 
have  to  become  personally  familiar  with  the  soils  and  agri- 
culture of  California,  as  I  was  with  those  of  Mississippi  and 
the  eastern  States.  Yet,  there  were  no  funds  with  which  to 
travel ;  and  without  those  means,  how  could  I  obtain  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  the  conditions  under  which  I  was  to  work  ?" 
That  question  about  ways  and  means,  which  is  the  bane  of 
so  many  scientific  undertakings,  remained  to  hamper  Hilgard 
perpetually;  up  to  the  time  of  his  retirement  he  had  hardly 
broken  the  habit  of  grudging  financial  provision  for  the  needs 
in  his  rapidly  expanded  field  of  usefulness.  It  proved  man- 
ageable only  in  part  by  rigid  economy  in  outlay  and  by  the  slow 
process  of  educating  authority  to  loosen  purse-strings.  Hil- 
card  saw  himself  driven  more  than  once  to  expedients  that  a 
less  determined  temperament  would  not  have  invented ;  espe- 
cially by  exploiting  for  the  benefit  of  his  adopted  State  the 
combinations  of  his  local  pursuits  with  larger  commissions 
that  his  national  standing  brought  him :  the  report  on  Cotton 
Production  in  the  United  States  for  the  census  of  1880;  the 
inquiry  into  the  asphaltum  resources  of  Southern  California 
for  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad;  the  field-work  on  the  Pa- 
cific Coast  for  the  Northern  Transcontinental  Survey.  On 
the  foundations  for  agricultural  research  laid  down  by  a  few 
such  as  Hilgard  was,  a  vogue  has  been  built  for  the  application 
of  scientific  methods  to  farming,  perhaps  not  without  some 
popularizing  concessions,  to  which  is  accorded  freely  even 
munificent  expenditure.  So  the  item  bids  fair  to  stand  out 
curiously  and  mark  the  toilsome  breaking  of  ground  for  this 
fair  harvest,  that  in  1875  the  first  Agricultural  Experiment 
Station  in  the  country  under  the  federal  act  was  established 
in  California;  this  priority  being  purchased  at  the  moderate 
cost  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  invested  in  maintenance. 
The  initiative  here  was,  of  course,  due  to  Hilgard,  and  the 
parsimony  is  some  measure  of  the  restrictions  that  were  power- 
less to  check  his  advance. 

136 


EUGENE  WOLDEMAR  HIEGARD — SLATE 

Hilgard  was  ready  with  a  first  published  report  in  1877.  Be- 
side chronicling  the  progress  up  to  that  date  of  his  special 
labors  in  California,  he  used  the  occasion  to  summarize  the 
principles  by  which  he  would  be  further  guided.  What  his 
creed  was,  we  have  learned  through  contact  with  its  applica- 
tion to  Mississippi  and  to  Michigan.  It  continued  to  shape  his 
course  in  erecting  the  structure  that  will  be  his  enduring 
monument.  In  California,  without  swerving  in  direction,  his 
effort  gained  intensity  by  focusing  upon  agricultural  devel- 
opment the  energy  and  attention  that  had  once  been  distributed 
over  a  more  inclusive  field  of  endeavor.  From  this  time  for- 
ward he  directed  unremittingly  from  the  center  at  Berkeley  the 
work  belonging  to  the  successive  phases  of  California's  agricul- 
tural growth,  in  flexible  conformity  to  its  changing  emphasis 
upon  viticulture  and  phylloxera ;  upon  alkali-soils  and  irriga- 
tion; upon  the  various  aspects  of  fruit-culture  and  grain-rais- 
ing. It  is  inherent  in  the  human  nature  of  like  relations  to 
economic  interests  that  they  may  involve  selfish  motives,  the 
personalities  of  public  controversy  and  similar  sordid  elements. 
Hilgard  lived  through  trials  of  that  character;  himself  not  vi- 
tally perturbed  by  them,  and  never  touched  with  any  taint  of 
their  infection ;  persistently  driving  his  saps  to  undermine 
every  obstructive  combination  against  the  scientific  welfare 
of  the  State  as  represented  in  its  College  of  Agriculture.  We 
could  regard  the  culmination  in  this  progress  as  attained  in 
1892 ;  the  year  of  a  visit  to  Europe  by  way  of  vacation,  from 
which  Hilgard  returned  crowned  with  abundant  and  honoring 
recognition  by  his  colleagues  in  other  countries;  were  we  not 
told  by  one  who  certainly  stood  close  enough  to  judge  the 
truth  how  :  ** After  1893,  Hilgard  applied  himself  for  more  than 
a  decade  with  his  customary  vigor,  insight  and  success,  upon 
undertakings  which  were  growing  by  leaps  and  bounds  be- 
cause he  had  started  and  directed  them  aright.  His  last  years 
of  administration  were  his  best  years;  his  position  of  leader- 
ship was  unquestioned ;  his  physical  strength  seemed  greater 
than  during  some  of  his  earlier  periods ;  the  demands  for  in- 
struction and  the  opportunities  for  research  were  multiplied. 
He  labored  like  one  who  was  realizing  the  results  he  had  long 
desired,    and    his    heart    was   light    as   his   time    for   greatest 

137 


NATIONAIv  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAI^   MEMOIRS VOL.    IX 

achievement  had  come."  Retirement  from  office  in  1905  ar- 
rived then  as  a  breaking  off  with  brain  undimmed  and  ca- 
pacity not  yet  on  the  ebb;  a  rather  infrequent  example,  in  its 
degree  of  preservation  under  advancing  age  of  a  vitaHty  that 
we  have  seen  threatened  seriously  at  the  threshold  of  manhood 
and  first  engagement  upon  heavy  tasks. 

It  is  fair  to  claim  that  the  maturity  of  Hilgard's  life  was 
bound  up  with  California.  No  adequately  detailed  impression 
of  his  tireless  and  varied  productiveness  throughout  that  space 
of  over  forty  years  must  be  looked  for  in  a  sketch  like  the 
present  one.  That  can  be  gained  only  by  a  full  analysis  of  his 
catalogued  writings.*  For  the  character  of  this  biographical 
outline  we  must  rest  content  with  an  excerpt  to  supplement  our 
account,  selecting  where  marked  features  or  incidents  lent  a 
value  known  to  agree  with  Hilgard's  own  estimate.  On  several 
counts  first  mention  should  probably  be  allotted  to  his  share 
in  the  census  of  1880.  That  was  of  national  importance  and 
range  and  its  extended  ramifications  exhibit  his  fine  quality 
in  organizing  and  co-ordinating.  It  was  an  exemplar,  too,  of 
his  capacity  for  ingenious  legitimate  strategy  on  a  large  scale, 
when  he  devised  that  particular  backing  of  his  State's  wel- 
fare with  the  nation's  interest,  and  delighted  one  shrewd  ob- 
server, who  is  quotable :  "As  I  look  back  upon  it,  it  seems  to 
me  that  Hilgard's  strategic  diversion  of  1879  to  1883  was  one 
of  the  brightest  and  most  effective  movements  of  his  career. 
On  the  basis  of  his  work  in  Mississippi  he  was  requested  to 
take  full  charge  of  the  cotton  investigation  for  the  census  of 
1880.  Hilgard  seized  what  he  recognized  as  exceptional  op- 
portunity to  demonstrate  his  power.  He  selected  assistants 
and  set  them  at  work  studying  cotton-producing  conditions 
from  the  soil  to  the  sky.  He  reviewed  the  subject  as  a  whole 
and  in  divisions,  studied  each  cotton  State,  and  finally  pro- 
duced edifying  and  inviting  text,  illuminated  with  plates 
and  maps,  bristling  with  tables  of  analyses  and  with  statistics 
of  production.  Every  ounce  of  this  report  was  made  in  Cal- 
ifornia, and  it  is  emblazoned  with  the  insignia  of  the  Univer- 


*A  bibliography  of  these  is  made  part  of  the  publication :  In  Memo- 
riam — Eugene  Woldemar  Hilgard  (University  of  California  Press, 
1916).  This  is  reproduced  at  the  close  of  the  present  memoir. 

138 


DUGDNK   WOLDKMAR   HII^GARD SLATE: 

sity  of  California,  but  it  cost  the  State  not  a  cent.  California 
was  presented  as  a  cotton  State  and  her  natural  conditions 
were  so  thoroughly  studied  and  so  ably  set  forth  that  a  part 
of  the  report  entitled  'The  Physical  Features  of  CaHfornia'  is 
cited  to  this  day  as  authority.  While  his  local  patrons  and 
employers  were  wondering  how  Hilgard  could  use  $2,500, 
the  United  States  gave  him  not  less  than  $25,000  to  spend  in 
his  cotton  work — one  wide-reaching  result  of  which  was  that 
it  made  California  famous." 

The  intimate  history  of  this  project  would  relate  how  only 
the  idea  in  embryo  was  due  to  Director  Walker,  and  how  its 
possibilities  were  enlarged  under  suggestion.  We  should  see 
Hilgard  overcoming  difficulties  of  personnel;  writing  at  speed 
a  pattern  report  on  Louisiana  for  his  subordinates  to  work 
by  and  editing  into  fair  excellence  their  manuscripts,  dove- 
tailing the  ill-matched  joints  into  that  final  unity  and  compre- 
hensiveness which  are  striking  in  the  finished  report.  All  this, 
too,  at  a  time  when  he  was  under  almost  feverish  pressure 
to  complete  his  individual  share,  the  exploration  of  the  pos- 
sible cotton-growing  portions  of  California,  chief  among 
which  was  the  Great  Central  Valley.  He  gives  us  a  glimpse 
of  what  that  implied :  **In  each  of  the  three  portions  of  the  Val- 
ley, I  observed  a  complete  cross-section  from  the  Coast  Range 
to  the  Sierra  foothills,  also  collecting  representative  soil  sam- 
ples for  analysis.  I  was  thus  assured  that  in  the  great  Valley 
at  least  upland  cotton  could  be  grown  from  end  to  end,  with 
moderate  irrigation  in  the  southern  portion.  By  utilizing  all 
the  sources  of  information  then  extant,  in  addition  to  my 
personal  explorations,  I  was  enabled  to  write  a  fairly  complete 
and  correct  physiographic  and  agricultural  description  of  the 
State  north  of  the  Tehachapi  divide.  But  as  no  cotton  had  been 
grown  south  of  that  range,  I  needed  some  other  plea  for  car- 
rying the  exploration  into  southern  California,  which  was  for- 
tunatelv  furnished,  but  from  a  private  source.  For,  during  the 
whole  of  my  career  in  California,"  Hilgard  affirms  deliberately, 
"I  have  never  been  afforded  by  the  State  any  official  opportunity 
for  collecting  agricultural  data,  save  by  driblets  on  account  of 
special  cultures  (notably  viticulture),  or  of  lectures  to  farmers, 
which  could  be  utilized  for  such  observations." 

139 


NATIONAI,  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAI,   MEMOIRS VOIv.   IX 

The  "private  source"  here  alluded  to  was  an  employment  by 
those  directing  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad's  enterprises,  to 
inquire  into  the  asphaltum  deposits  of  California,  chiefly  in 
Ventura  County.  The  Northern  Transcontinental  Survey,  fi- 
nanced by  the  same  group,  was  also  forcing  the  pace  for  Hil- 
gard  through  the  summer  vacations  of  1879-83,  when  he  ex- 
amined the  mineral  and  agricultural  resources  in  their  congres- 
sional land  grant.  These  expeditions  took  him  into  Oregon, 
Washington  and  Montana,  continually  studying  the  general 
botanical  and  agricultural  features  of  the  regions  traversed, 
taking  samples  of  their  soils  and  subsoils,  and  specially  noting 
the  depths  of  the  soil  mass  and  ,the  penetration  of  the  roots 
for  the  bearing  upon  vegetative  life  under  arid  conditions.  It 
would  be  easy  to  infer  that  the  knowledge  and  experience  thus 
accumulated  went  directly  to  increase  Hilgard's  efficiency  in 
his  professorship,  whose  obligations  he  accepted  punctiliously 
always,  had  he  not  told  us  explicitly  that  "Without  the  wider 
experience  given  me  by  these  explorations,  which  I  have  taken 
advantage  of  extensively,  too,  for  my  book  on  'Soils,'  I  should 
not  have  been  able  to  give  my  series  of  publications  the  scope 
they  have  had."  But  the  Board  of  Regents,  we  learn,  were  at 
first  inclined  to  read  neglect  of  duty  in  these  scientific  em- 
ployments, and  were  brought  to  correct  their  layman's  view 
only  after  an  unpleasant  Season  of  conversion. 

From  the  moment  of  his  recorded  first  surprise  at  finding 
green  vegetation  sustaining  itself,  notwithstanding  the  arid 
climate  in  many  districts  of  California,  the  unraveling  of  the 
operative  causes  was  a  primary  theme  of  Hilgard's  thought 
until  he  had  deciphered  the  riddle.  That  was  characteristic 
both  of  his  acute  observation  and  of  his  pertinacity  in  analysis. 
Much  corroborative  detail  that  would  have  been  embodied  in  a 
report  upon  the  results  of  the  Transcontinental  Survey  was 
withheld  from  direct  publication,  first  by  the  suspension  of  the 
survey  and  later  by  a  fire  that  destroyed  the  collected  material. 
But  his  demonstrated  conclusions  regarding  the  connected 
subjects  of  "alkali-soils"  and  "arid  fertility,"  as  announced  in 
an  important  group  of  papers,  are  undoubtedly  one  of  his 
weighty  original  contributions.  Even  such  a  sorely  condensed 
review  as  this  of  what  Hilgard's  name  will  stand  for  cannot 

140 


^UG^N^  W0I.DE:MAR  HIIvGARD — S1.AT1: 

refrain  from  some  estimate  of  his  success  and  his  priority 
in  that  field.  And  we  shall  be  safest  in  borrowing  the  words 
of  his  own  summary :  ''I  soon  recognized,  touching  this  matter 
of  preferred  interest,  that  arid  climates  and  soils  are  mis- 
called 'semitropic/  being  indeed  the  very  reverse  of  tropic ;  and 
that  such  soils  will,  as  a  rule,  be  calcareous,  through  the  ab- 
sence of  the  leaching  process,  so  that  arid  vegetation  is  practi- 
cally lime  vegetation.  Now  lime  vegetation  is  characteristic  of 
fertile  soils,  the  world  over;  hence,  arid  countries  should  be 
fertile  whenever  water  is  supplied.  That  this  is  so  is  proved 
by  the  history  of  ancient  civilizations,  which  flourished  mainly 
in  arid  countries — Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  India,  Mesopotamia. 
The  exceptional  and  lasting  fertility  of  arid  soils  is  explained 
not  only  by  their  high  content  of  plant  food,  but  by  the  fact 
that  as  clay  substance  is  but  scantily  formed  under  arid  con- 
ditions, the  sandy  and  silty  soils  so  formed  are  pervious  to 
air,  water,  and  plant  roots  to  a  depth  rarely  reached  in  a 
humid  region,  thus  rendering  accessible  to  plant  growth  a 
soil  mass  many  times  greater,  measured  by  feet  instead  of 
inches  and  conditioning  drouth  resistance.  Also  under  proper 
cultivation  rendering  fertilization  unnecessary  for  a  long  time, 
while  the  soils  of  the  humid  regions  must  be  thus  supplemented 
in  a  few  years.  It  appeared  also  that  the  same  is  true  of  the 
despised  alkali-soils  in  which  an  excess  of  salts  has  accumu- 
lated, so  soon  as  that  excess  is  removed  by  drainage.  The 
enormous  areas  of  saline  deserts  can  thus  be  made  available 
for  food  production  whenever  the  increase  of  the  earth's  popu- 
lation shall  render  it  desirable  and  feasible  to  effect  this  recla- 
mation. I  was  the  first  to  recommend  the  use  of  gypsum  upon 
'black  alkali'  soils  to  change  the  carbonate  of  soda  into  the 
sulphate." 

♦  Hilgard  continued  for  some  ten  years  to  make  an  attractive 
center  of  the  family  home  that  had  been  occupied  soon  after 
the  removal  to  Berkeley.  His  "retirement"  affected  profes- 
sional obligations  merely,  leaving  unimpaired  the  traditions  of 
rich  years  devoted  in  that  circle  to  all  that  can  make  life  best 
worth  while.  Many  have  marveled  that  a  fighting  exponent 
of  personal  views  in  the  public  arena  can  be  radiant  of  unas- 
suming gentleness  at  home ;  as  Hilgard  was  and  Huxley  be- 

141 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — ^VOL.   IX 

fore  him,  because  men  of  that  stamp  see  a  conflict  of  ideas 
apart  from  contentiousness.  Many  are  regretting  the  limited 
horizon  of  the  typically  modern  scientific  man,  when  they 
remember  in  sharp  contrast  Hilgard's  catholically  embracing 
concern  with  the  entire  gamut  of  human  endeavor.  Perhaps 
the  mold  was  broken  in  which  such  men  were  formed,  when 
the  full  cosmopolitan  range  of  influences  that  made  them  was 
compressed  into  an  eager  haste  to  acquire  paying  control  of  a 
specialty. 

Hilgard  lived  to  his  end  in  a  fashion  that  allowed  his  span 
of  over  fourscore  years  to  set  at  naught  the  dictum  of  the 
psalmist.  There  was  a  gradual  decline  of  physical  vitality, 
natural  to  advanced  age,  to  be  sure ;  but  it  was  marked  in  him 
by  little  else  than  a  mellowing.  And  so  the  close  on  January 
8,  1916,  for  the  daughters  who  had  shared  his  sorrow  at  the 
premature  bereavements  of  son  and  of  wife,  was  to  be  read  in 
symbols  of  fulfillment  rather  than  in  sequence  with  those  early 
losses.  When  the  ripeness  of  time  came,  Hilgard  could  de- 
rive legitimate  pleasure  from  his  public  scientific  honors :  from 
the  rarely  bestowed  **Golden  Degree"  by  which  Heidelberg 
commemorated  his  completed  half-century  of  distinguished 
record ;  from  the  Doctor  of  Laws  granted  him  in  superposition 
by  Columbia,  Mississippi,  Michigan ;  from  the  medals  awarded 
in  Munich,  Paris,  and  elsewhere.  But  he  was  sensitively  hu- 
mane more  than  the  stiffness  of  such  academic  conventions 
can  express.  The  "thought  of  his  heart"  was  interwoven  with 
California,  through  his  unique  function  and  chance  to  retrieve 
her  in  perpetuity  from  the  harm  of  false  counsels  in  the  field 
of  his  responsibility. 


142 


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The  loess  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the  aeolian  hypothesis. 

Amer.  Journ.  Sci.,  Aug, 
On  the  flocculation  of  particles,  and  its  physical  and  chemical 

bearings.     Amer.   Journ.    Sci.,    Feb.     Translated   in :    Wollny, 

Forschungen  auf  dem  Gebiete  der  Agriculturphysik. 
[880.'    Physical  geography  of  the  State  of  Mississippi.     With  maps,  in 

Eclectic   Series.     Van  Antwerp,  Bragg  &  Co.,  Cincinnati. 
The  permanent  maintenance  of  our  vineyards.     First  report  of 

the   State  Viticultural  Commission  of  California. 

1881.  (Third)   report  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  of  the  Uni- 

versity of  California.     Sacramento. 
The  later  tertiary  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.     Amer.  Journ.  Sci., 

July,  with  colored  geol.  map. 
The  objects  and  interpretations  of  soil  analysis.     Amer.  Journ. 

Sci.,  Sept. 

1882.  Progress  in  agriculture  by  education  and  government  aid.     At- 

lantic Monthly,  April  and  May. 

Report  on  the  climatic  and  agricultural  features  and  the  agri- 
cultural practice  and  needs  of  the  arid  regions  of  the  Pacific 
slope.  Made  under  the  direction  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner 
of  Agriculture,  by  E.  W.  Hilgard,  J.  C.  Jones,  and  R.  W. 
Furnas,  Commissioners.     Washington,  D.  C. 

Industrial  education  and  the  kindergarten.  San  Francisco  Kin- 
dergarten Messenger  and  The  New  Education,  vol,  6,  Nos. 
11-12. 

The  absorption  of  hygroscopic  moisture  by  soils  under  varying 
conditions.    Proc.  Amer.  Soc.  Prom.  Agr.  Sci. 

(Fourth)  report  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  California.     Sacramento. 

Einige  Bemerkungen  iiber  die  Schlammanalyse,  Wollny's  For- 
schungen auf  dem  Gebiete  der  Agriculturphysik,  vol.  6. 

145 


NATIONAI,  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAI,   MEMOIRS — VOL.   TX 

Report  on  the  cotton  production  of  the  United  States.  Tenth 
U.  S.  Census,  vols.  5  and  6,  4to.,  embracing,  as  personal  work, 
apart  from  editorial : 

(a)  General  discussion  of  the  results  of  the  tenth  census 

as   regards   cotton  production.     With  two  maps, 
(ft)   Discussion  of  measurements   of  cotton  fiber. 

(c)  The  production  and  uses  of  cotton-seed,  and  the  cotton- 

seed oil  industry. 

(d)  Soil  investigations:    Introduction  to  the  description  of 
-  States. 

(e)  General  features  of  the  alluvial  plain  of  the  Mississippi 

below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio. 

(/)  Report  on  the  cotton  production  and  agricultural  fea- 
tures of  the  State  of  Louisiana.  With  two  colored 
maps. 

(g)  Report,  etc.,  of  the  State  of  Mississippi.  With  two 
colored  maps. 

(h)  Report,  etc.,  of  the  State  of  California.  With  two 
colored  maps. 

1883.  Report  of  Professors  E.  W.  Hilgard  and  F.  V.  Hopkins,  upon 

the  examination  of  specimens  from  borings  on  the  Mississippi 

River,    between    Memphis    and    Vicksburg.      Rep.    Mississippi 

River  Commission  for  1883,  p.  479. 
The  salines  of  Louisiana.     U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  report  on 

the  Mineral  Resources  of  the  United   States,  p.  554. 
Soils  of  Washington  Territory,     i.  The  Yakima  basin.     2.  The 

Colville  peninsula.     Letterpress  and   two  colored  maps;   Ige. 

folio.     Issued  by  the  Northern  Transcontinental  Survey   (N. 

P.  R.  R.). 

1884.  The  asphaltum  deposits  of  California.    U.  S.  Geological  Survey, 

mineral  resources  of  the  United  States. 

(Fifth)  report  of  the- College  of  Agriculture  of  the  University 
of  California,  Sacramento. 

Report  on  the  agricultural  features  of  eastern  Washington  Ter- 
ritory, made  under  the  auspices  of  the  Northern  Transconti- 
nental Survey.  Yakima,  Colville,  Spokane,  and  Vermillion 
River  regions.    The  Northwest,  St.  Paul. 

1885.  Uber    die    Bedeutung    der    hygroscopischen    Bodenfeuchtigkeit 

fiir  die  Vegetation.     Wollny's  Forschungen  auf  dem  Gebiete 
der  Agriculturphysik,  vol.  8,  p.  53. 

The  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture;  suggestions  for  its  im- 
provement.   Pacific  Rural  Press,  Jan.  3. 

The  old  tertiary  of  the  southwest.    Amer.  Journ.  Sci.,  Oct. 

The  classification  and  palaeontology  of  the  United  States  tertiary 
deposits.     Science,  vol.  6,  p.  44. 

On  some  redeeming  features  of  alkali  soils.  Proc.  Am.  Soc. 
Prom.    Agr.    Sci. 

146 


DUG^NE:  WOIvDE^MAR  HII^GARD SIvATe; 

The  phylloxera   at   Berkeley.     Statement  by   the   Professor   of 
Agriculture.     State  Office,  Sacramento. 

1886.  Report  of  viticultural  work  during  the  seasons  1883-4,  ^nd  1884-5, 

with  notes  on  the  vintage  of  1885-6.     Appendix  to  the  report 
of  the  College  of  Agriculture  of  the  University  of  California, 
for    1884.     Sacramento. 
The  beet-sugar  industry  in  California.    Overland  Monthly,  Dec. 
Report  on  the  viticultural  work  done  during  the  seasons  1885  and 
1886,  at  the  viticultural  laboratory  of  the  University  of  Cal- 
ifornia.    Sacramento. 
On  alkali  soils,  and  their  relation  to  irrigation.     Sacramento. 
(Sixth)  report  of  the  College  of  Agriculture  of  the  University 

of  California,  Sacramento. 
University  of  California  publications. — Bulletins,  College  of  Ag- 
riculture.    (Earlier  bulletins  have  all  been  republished  in  the 
annual  reports.)     Sacramento. 

Bulletin  No.  65.    Shall  California  make  sophisticated  wines? 
Bulletin  No.  66.    Principles  and  practice  of  pasteurization. 
Bulletin  No.  dy.    Misconception  of  the  university  viticultural 

work. 
Bulletin  No.  68.    Influence  of  mode  of  fermentation  on  the 

color  of  wines. 
Bulletin  No.  69.    Wine  colors  and  color  wines. 
Bulletin  No.  70.    Abnormal   deposits   on   vine  leaves;   mys- 
terious death  of  vines;  remedy  for  the 
anthracnose  of  vines. 
Bulletin  No.  72.    Sugar  beets  at  Fresno. 
Bulletin  No.  74.   Vintage  work  and  instruction  in  the  viti- 
cultural   laboratory   in    1887;    choice    in 
resistant  stocks. 
Bulletin  No.  75.    Difficult  fermentations. 
Bulletin  No.  TJ.   Extraction  of  color  and  tannin  during  red- 
wine   fermentation. 
Bulletin  No.  78.    Report  on   the   establishment   of    outlying 

stations. 
Bulletin  No.  80.    Progress  of  the  Experiment  Station  work. 
The  effects  of  lime  in  soils  and  the  development  of  plants.    Proc. 
Soc.  Prom.  Agric.  Sci. ;  Forsch.  auf  d.  Gebiete  der  Agricultur- 
phys.,  vol.  10;  Centralblatt  fiir  Agrikulturchemie,  vol.  16. 

1887.  Uber   den   Einfiuss   des   Kalkes   als    Bodenbestandtheil   auf   die 

Entwickelungsweise  der  Pflanzen.     (Revised  translation  of  the 
preceding.)      Wollny's    Forschungen    auf    dem    Gebiete    der 
Agriculturphysik,  vol.  10. 
The   methods   of   mechanical   soil   analysis.     Proc.    Soc.   Prom. 
Agric.  Sci. 

147 


NATIONAL  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAI,   MEMOIRS — ^VOL.   IX 

The  processes  of  soil  formation  from  the  northwestern  basalts. 

Proc.  Amer.  Soc.  Prom.  Agric.  Sci. 
The  equivalent  in  time  of  the  American  marine  and   intracon- 

tinental  terranes.    Science,  vol.  9,  p.  535. 

1888.  Reports  on  methods  of  fermentation  and  related  subjects,  made 

during  the  years  1886  and  1887.     Sacramento. 
On  the  mutual  reactions  of  carbonates,  sulphates,  and  chlorides 
of  the  alkaline  earths  and  alkalies  (With  A.  H.  Weber).   Proc. 
Soc.   Prom.  Agric.   Sci. 

1889.  Circular  concerning  analyses  of  waters.     University  Press. 
Report  of  the  professor  in  charge  to  the  president  of  the  univer- 
sity (on  the  condition  of  the  agricultural  college  and  exper- 
iment station).    Sacramento. 

Reports  of  examinations  of  water,  water  supply,  and  related  sub- 
jects, during  the  years  1886  to  1889.  Calif.  Expt.  Station.  Sac- 
ramento. 

Bulletin  No.  82,  Calif.  Expt.  Station.  The  lakes  of  the  San 
Joaquin  valley. 

Bulletin  No.  83,  Calif.  Expt.  Station.  The  rise  of  alkali  in  the 
San   Joaquin   valley. 

1890.  Report  of  the  College  of  Agriculture,  University  of  California, 

for  the  two  years  ending  June  30,   1890.     Sacramento. 

Report  on  the  asphaltum  mine  of  the  Ventura  Asphalt  Com- 
pany. Colored  plate.  Report  of  the  State  Mineralogist.  Sac- 
ramento. 

Report  on  the  University  of  California  experiment  stations  and 
descriptions  of  each  region  represented. 

(a)  Climate,   topography,  soils,   cultures   and   cross-country 

sections  of   the   bay   region,   the   foothills,  the   Coast 
Range,  San  Joaquin  valley,  and  Tulare  basin. 

(b)  Alkali,  alkali   soils,  their  value  and  reclamation. 

(c)  Soil  investigation,   its  methods   and   results. 

[891.     Report  of  the  work  of  University  of  California  experiment  sta- 
tions   for    1890. 

(a)  Work  in  the  general  laboratory  on  soils,  alkali,  waters, 

etc. 

(b)  Preservative  fluids  for  fresh  fruit. 

(c)  The  sulfuring  of  dried  fruits. 

(d)  The  use  of  fertilizers  in  California;  fertilizing  value  of 

greasewood. 

(e)  The  production  of  ramie  in  California. 

(/)  The  weeds  of  California.    Also  in  Garden  and  Forest. 
Soil    studies    and   soil   maps.     Overland   Monthly,   Dec;    Proc. 

Amer.  Soc.  Prom.  Agric.  Sci. 
The  cienegas  of  southern  California.     Bull.  Geol.  of  America, 
vol.  3- 

148 


EUG^N^  WOI.DEMAR  HILGARD SI^ATE 

Orange    sand,    Lagrange    and    Appomattox.      Amer.    Geologist, 
vol.  8. 
1892.     Black  soils.    Agr.  Sci.,  Jan. 

Crops  and  fertilizers  with  reference  to  California  soils  and  prac- 
tice.    Bull.  61,  Cal.  State  Board  of  Horticulture. 

Report  of  viticulture  work  during  1887  to  1889  (With  L.  Papar- 
elli).     Red  wine  grapes,  Univ.  Calif.  Expt.   Station. 

Report  of  the  work  of  the  University  of  California  experiment 
stations  for  1891-2. 

(o)   Honey  Lake  valley  lands. 

(b)  Sulfuring  in  fruit  drying. 

(c)  Methods  of  physical  and  chemical  soil  analyses. 
Alkali  soils,  irrigation  and  drainage,  in  their  mutual  relations. 

Calif.    Expt.   Station. 

(a)  Alkali  soils  and  irrigation  waters  of  California. 

(b)  Lake  and  river  waters  of  California,  and  their  quality 

for  irrigation  purposes. 

(c)  Artesian  waters  of  California. 

(d)  Irrigation  and  alkali  in  India. 

Zur  Bestimmung  der  Wassercapacitat  der  Bodenarten.  Wollny, 
Forsch.  auf  d.  Gebiete  der  Agriculturphys.,  vol.  15. 

Uber  die  Beziehungen  zwischen  Humusbildung  und  Kalkgehalt 
der  Bodenarten.     (Ibid.)     ' 

The  age  and  origin  of  the  Lafayette  formation.  Am.  Jour.  Sci., 
May. 

The  sampling  of  soils  for  analysis.  Agr.  Sci.,  vol.  6,  No.  6; 
Wollny,  Forsch.  Agr.  Phys.,  vol.  15. 

The  determination  of  clays  in  soils.  Agr.  Sci.,  vol.  6,  No.  4; 
Wollny,  Forsch.  auf  d.  Gebiete  der  Agriculturphys.,  vol.  16. 

The  mechanical  analysis  of  soils.  Agr.  Sci.,  vol.  6,  No.  12; 
Wollny,  Forsch.  auf  d.  Gebiete  der  Agriculturphys.,  vol.  16. 

Criticism  of  "Soil  Investigations,^'  by  Milton  Whitney.  Agr. 
Sci.,    June 

A  report  on  the  relations  of  soil  to  climate.  Bulletin  No.  3  of 
the  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau.    Government  Office. 

Uber  den  Einfluss  des  Klimas  auf  die  Bildung  und  Zusammen- 
setzung  des  Bodens.  (Revised  translation  of  the  preceding  by 
the  author.)  Wollny,  Forsch.  auf  d.  Gebiete  der  Agricultur- 
phys., vol.  16;  separate  edition  by  Winter,  Heidelberg. 

De  I'influence  du  climat  sur  la  formation  et  la  composition  des 
sols.  Revised  by  the  author  and  translated  by  Jean  Vilbouche- 
vich.  Annales  de  la  science  agronomique  frangaise  et  etran- 
gere,  par  Louis  Grandeau.    Paris. 

Uber  den  Einfluss  einiger  klimatischen  und  Bodenverhaltnisse 
auf  die  altere  Kultur.  Verhandl.  der  deutschen  physiologischen 
Gesellschaft  zu  Berlin,  Dec. 

149 


NATIONAI,  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

Further  investigations  on  the  mutual  reactions  of  carbonates, 
sulfates  and  chlorides  of  the  alkaline  earths  and  alkalies. 
(With  M.  E.  Jaffa.)     Proc.  Soc.  Prom.  Agr.  Sci. 

Soil  investigation  and  soil  physics.    Agr.  Sci.,  vol.  6,  No.  12. 

1893.  Die    Bodenverhaltnisse    Californiens.      Zeitschrift    d.    deutschen 

geologischen  Gesellschaft,  Berlin. 

Skizze  der  physikalischen  und  industriellen  Geographic  Califor- 
niens; and  rain  map  of  California.  Verhandlungen  der  Ge- 
sellschaft fiir  Erdkunde  zu  Berlin. 

Solvents  for  soil  analysis.     Agri.  Sci. 

Die  Feldwanze  und  deren  Vernichtung  durch  Infection.  Gar- 
tenflora. 

Biographical  memoir  of  Julius  Erasmus  Hilgard,  1825-1890. 
Memoirs  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences. 

Die  Bildungsweise  der  Alkalicarbonate  in  der  Natur.  Berichte 
der  deutsch.  chem.  Gesellschaft,  25  Jahrg.,  no.  19. 

Kritik  Uber  Whitney's  "Some  Physical  Properties  of  Soils,"  etc. 
Wollny,  Forsch.  auf  d.  Gebiete  der  Agriculturphys.,  vol.  16. 

Uber  die  Methoden  und  Resultate  amerikanischer  Bodenunter- 
schungen.  Vortrag  vor  der  Versammlung  des  Verbandes  der 
deutschen  Vers.  Stationen  in  Berlin,  Jan.;  and  Die  landw. 
Versuchsstationen,  vol.  42. 

l)ber  die  Bestimmung  des  Kalis.  Fres.  Zeitschr.  analyt.  Chemie, 
32  Jahrg. 

Considerations  sur  les  terrains  alcalins  et  salants.  Memoire  lu 
devant  la  Societe  Nationale  d'Acclimatation  de  France,  March. 
Paris. 

Les  stations  agricoles  experimentales  de  la  Californie.  Memoire 
lu  devartt  la  Societe  Nationale  d'Acclimatation  de  France; 
Revue  des  sciences  naturelles  appliquees,  March.     Paris. 

Sedimentation  vs.  hydraulic  elutriation.    Agr.  Sci.,  vol.  7,  no.  6. 

Report  on  the  methods  of  chemical  and  physical  soil  analysis. 
Bulletin  No.  38,  Division  of  Chemistry,  Department  of  Agri- 
culture,   Washington;    Circular    No.    6,    Univ.    of    Calif. 

Then  and  Now.  (i)  'Tis  Forty  Years  Since.  (2)  Europe  Re- 
visited.   Occident  (Univ.  of  Calif.),  Oct.  26  and  Nov.  2. 

Alkali,  its  causes  and  cure.    Lecture  at  Compton  Farmers'  Insti- 
tute.   Rural  Press ;  and  Kern  County  Land  Company. 

1894.  Fruits   and   soils   of   the   arid   and   humid   regions.     Report   of 

State  Board  of  Horticulture.     State  Office. 

The  work  of  the  American  experiment  stations.  Garden  and 
Forest,   Nov. 

Arid  lands,  and  the  reclamation  of  alkali  soils.  The  San  Fran- 
cisco Examiner,  New  Year's  edition.    Illustrated. 

The  chemical  and  physical  investigation  of  soils.  Paper  read 
before  the  World's  Congress  of  Chemists,  Chicago,  in  1893. 
Journ,  Amer.  Chem.  Soc,  vol.  16,  no.  i. 

150 


Eugene:  woIvDEmar  hii^gard — slate 

La  conquete  des  terrains  alcalins  par  le  platrage.    Translated  by 

J.   Vilbouchevitch.     Le   Progres  Agricole  et  Viticole;   Mont- 

pellier,  June.     Illustrated. 
The  digestion  of  soils  for  analysis.     Agr.  Sci.,  Jan. 
La  reclamation  des  terres  salants  pour  la  culture  a  la  Station  de 

Tulare,  Californie.    Le  Bas  Rhone. 
t)ber  den   Stickstoffgehalt  des   Bodenhumus  in  den  ariden  und 

humiden  Regionen.     Wollny,   Forsch,  auf  d.  Geb.   der  Agri- 

culturphys. 
On  the  nitrogen  contents  of  soil  humus  in  the  arid  and  humid 

regions.     (With  M.  E.  Jaffa.)     Agr.  Sci.,  April,  and  Station 

Report  for  1892-93-94. 
Irrigation   for  the  humid  regions.     Farmers*  Magazine. 
Report  of  the  University  of  California  agricultural  experiment 

station,    1892-93-94 : 

(a)  Work  of  the  station. 

(b)  Cienegas  of  southern  California.    Reprint  from  proceed- 

ings of  the  Geological  Society  of  America,  1891. 

(c)  Fruit   and    fruit   soils   in   arid   and    humid    regions. 

(d)  Crops  and  fertilizers  with  reference  to  California  soils 

and  practice, 

(e)  Digestion  of  soils   for  analysis.     (With  M.   E.  Jaffa.) 
(/)   Paoli  Gypsum  Company's  mine. 

(g)  Report  on  American  experiment  stations. 
(h)  Report  on  European  agricultural  schools, 
(t)  The   relations   of   soils   to  climate.     Revised   reprint  of 
Bulletin  No.  3,  U,  S.  Weather  Bureau. 
1895.    Articles  on  "olives"  and  "wine  and  wine-making"  in  Johnson's 
Cyclopedia,  2nd  edition. 
The   recognition   of  nitrogen-hungriness  in  soils.     Bulletin  47, 

U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Division  of  Chemistry. 
Late  progress  in  soil  analysis.     Bull.  30,  U.  S.  Dept.  Agr.,  Div. 

of  Chemistry. 
Occurrence  and  characteristics  of  alkali  soils.    Yearbook,  U.  S. 

Dept.    Agriculture. 
Die  Eroberung  der  Steppenlander  fiir  die  Kultur.     Die  Nation, 

Berlin,  No.  51. 
Die  Zuckerriibenkultur  auf  Alkaliboden.     Die  Landwirtschaft- 

lichen  Versuchstationen,  Berlin. 
Report  of  California  experiment  station  for  1894-5.    Sacramento. 

(a)  Work  of  the  station. 

(b)  Late  progress  in  soil  examination;  also  in  Bulletin  no. 

(c)  The  distribution  of  salts  in  alkali  soils.     (With  R.  II. 

Loughridge)  ;  also  in  Bulletin  108. 

(d)  The  growing  of  sugar-beets  on  alkali  land.     (With  R. 

H.  Loughridge.) 

151 


NATIONAI,  ACADEMY  BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIRS — ^VOL.   IX 

(e)  Improvement  and  fertilization  of  land. 

(/)  The  canaigre  or  tanner's  dock. 

(g)  The  supply  of  soil  nitrogen. 

(h)   Preparation  of  fruit  specimens  for  exhibition. 
Fruchtbare  Wiisteneien.    Die  Nation,  Berlin,  No.  46. 
Die     Erkennung     stickstoffhungriger     Kulturboden.      Deutsche 
Landwirtschaftliche  Presse,  No.  53. 

1896.  Steppes,   deserts,  and   alkali   lands.     Popular   Science   Monthly, 

March. 

The  geologic  efficacy  of  alkali  carbonate  solutions.  Amer.  Journ. 
Sci.,  vol.  2,  Aug. 

The  work  of  the  College  of  Agriculture.  Bull,  iii,  Calif.  Expt. 
Station. 

Die  Vertheilung  der  Salze  in  Alkaliboden  unter  verschiedenen 
Bedingungen.    Wollny.  Fortschritte  der  Agriculturphysik. 

The  agricultural  college  and  the  university.  Pacific  Rural 
Press,   Aug.   8. 

Viticultural  report  for  1887  to  1895:  Univ.  of  Calif.  Expt.  Sta- 
tion. 

(a)  Work  of  the  station. 

(b)  The  composition  and  classification  of  grapes,  musts,  and 

wines. 
Agriculture  in  the  schools.     Weekly  San  Francisco  Chronicle, 
Aug.  27. 

1897.  The  objects  and  methods   of  soil  analysis.     Proc.   Soc.   Prom. 

Agr.   Sci.,   July. 

The  use  of  antiseptics  in  food  products.  Proc.  Pure  Food  Con- 
gress, San  Francisco. 

Die  Dungungsmanie  im  fernen  Westen.  Deutsche  Landw. 
Presse,  24  Jahrgang,  No.  72. 

Report  of  University  of  California  Experiment  Station,  1895-97. 

(a)  Work  of  the  College  of  Agriculture  and  experiment 
stations. 

(b)  Introductory  note  on   the   investigation   of   the  natural 

vegetation  of  alkali  lands. 

(c)  Economy  in  fertilization. 

(d)  Results  deducible  from  experiments  on  the  fertilization 

of  citrus  fruits. 

(e)  Acidity  of  the  root-sap  of  citrus  trees. 

The  bleaching  of  nuts  by  dipping.     Univ.  Calif.  Station  Bulletin 

No.    113. 
Preparatory    teaching    in    agricultural    colleges.      Read    at    the 

Minneapolis  meeting  of  the  Association  of  Amer.  Coll.  and 

Expt.  Sta.,  and  published  in  the  proceedings  of  that  meeting, 

by  the  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture. 
The  adaptability  of  different  soils  to  fruit  and  field  crops.     San 

Francisco  Farmers'  Institute. 
152 


Eugene:  woi^demar  hii^gard — si.ate 

Peculiarities  of  soils  and  agricultural  practice  in  the  arid  region. 
San  Francisco  Call. 

New  or  improved  methods  of  farming  in  California.  San  Fran- 
cisco Call,  Christmas  edition. 

1898.  Maintaining   the    fertility   of   our   soils.     Read   at   Los   Angeles 

Farmers'  Clubs'  Institute,  January. 
The  beet-sugar  industry  in  California.    Pacific  Rural  Press,  Jan. 
Irrigation  and  drainage.     Fresno  Farmers'  Institute,  April. 
Some  physical  and  chemical  peculiarities  of  arid  soils.     Proc. 

Agr.  Sci. 
Report  of  California  Experiment  Station  for  1897-98. 

(a)  Work  of  the  station. 

(b)  Endurance  of  drought  in  soils  of  arid  region.     (With 

R.  H.  Loughridge.) 

(c)  Use  of  saline  and  alkaline  waters  in  irrigation. 

(d)  Investigation  of  canned  products.     (With  G.  E.  Colby.) 

(e)  Extermination  of  weeds. 

(/)   Some  east  highlands  soils  ^nd  their  cultural  treatment. 
(g)  Growth  of  lupins  on  calcareous  lands. 
Conservation  of  soil  moisture  and  economy  in  use  of  irrigation 
water.     (With  R.  H.  Loughbridge.)     Bull.  121,  Univ.  of  Calif. 
Expt.  Station. 

1899.  The  subdivision  of  genera.    Science  n.  s.,  no.  253,  Nov. 

Die  Landbauzonen  der  aussertropischen  Lander.  Review.  Sci- 
ence n.  s.,  no.  258,  Dec. 

1900.  The  orthography  of  geographical  names.     Nat.  Geogr.  Magazine, 

Jan. 
Nochmals  „Wiesendungung."     Landw.  Presse,  Jan. 
Wetterschiessen    for   prevention   of   hail.     Science,  Jan. 
The  study  of  Greek  and  Latin  vs.  modern  languages.     Science, 

June. 
Nature,  value  and  utilization  of  alkali  lands.    Univ.  Calif.  Agr. 

Expt.  Sta.  Bull.  no.  128. 
Free  arsenious  acid  in  Paris  green.    Journ.  Amer.  Chem.  Soc, 

vol.  22,  no.  ID. 
Etude  sur  la  Grele ;  defense  des  recoltes  par  le  tir  du  Canon. 

(Review  of   pamphlet  by   V.   Vermorel).     Science,    Aug.   17. 

1901.  An  historical  outline  of  the  geological  and  agricultural  survey  of 

the  State  of  Mississippi.     Mississippi  Historical  Society,  vol. 

3,  May,  and  American  Geologist,  May. 
Sketch  of  the  pedological  geology  of  California.     Journ.  Geol., 

vol.  9,  no.  I. 
An  estimate  of  the  life-work  of  Joseph  LeConte.     University 

of  California  Magazine,  Sept. 
Soil  tests  and  variety  tests.     Soc.   Prom.  Agr.  Sci. 
Report  of  University  of  California  Experiment  Station  for  1898- 

1901.     Work  of  the  station. 
153 


NATIONAL  ACADEJMY  BIOGRAPHICAI,  MEMOIRS — VOL.   IX 

1902.  Lands  of  the  Colorado  delta  in  the  Salton  basin.     (With  F.  J. 

Snow  and  G.  W.  Shaw.)  Calif.  Agr.  Expt.  Sta.  Bulletin  No. 
140,  Feb. 

The  rise  of  alkali  salts  to  the  surface.  (Criticism  of  an  article 
by  Means.)     Science,  Feb.  21. 

Central  control  of  agricultural  experiment  stations,  Science, 
April  25. 

The  causes  of  the  development  of  ancient  civilization  in  arid 
countries.     North  American  Review,  Sept. 

Studies  of  the  subterranean  water  supply  of  tlie  San  Bernardino 
valley  and  its  utilization.  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agr.,  Office  of 
Expt.  Stations,  Bulletin  No.  119.  (Report  of  irrigation  inves- 
tigations for  1901.) 

1903.  Report  of  the  University  of  California  Agricultural  Experiment 

Station   for  1901-1903. 

(a)  Work  of  the  station. 

(b)  Alkali  and  alkali  lands. 

(c)  Humus  of  Oregon  soils, 
(rf)  The  benefits  of  drainage. 

(e)  Increase  of  soluble  matter  in  bread  by  toasting. 
(/)  Investigation  of  the  seeds  of  Polygala  apopetala. 
The  Grand  Gulf  formation.    Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  18,  Xo.  499. 
The  chemistry  of  soils  as  related  to  crop  production,     (Criticism 
of  Bulletin  No.  22,  Bureau  of  Soils).     Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  18, 
No.  46. 

1904.  Soil  work  in  the  United  States.     Science,  n.  s.,  vol.  19,  No.  475. 
Report    of    University    of    California    Experiment    Station    for 

1903-04. 
Soil  management.     Science,  Nov. 

1905.  The  prairie  mounds  of  Louisiana.    Science,  April  7. 

1906.  Soils  for  apples.    Science,  Jan.  12. 

Some  peculiarities  of  rock  weathering  and  soil  formation  in  the 

arid  and  humid  regions.     Amer.  Journ.  Sci.,  April. 
Soils;   their  formation,  properties,  composition  and  relation  to 

climate  and  plant   growth.     Illustrated;   593   pp.     Macmillan 

Company,  New  York  and  London. 
The   exceptional   nature   and   genesis   of   the   Mississippi    delta. 

Science,  Dec.  28. 
Marly  subsoils  and  the  chlorosis  or  yellowing  of  citrus  trees. 

Circular  No.  27,  Calif.  Agr.  Expt.  Station,  Oct. 

1907.  Soils;  their  formation  and  nature.    Nelson's  International  Ency- 

clopedia.    Thos.   Nelson  &  Sons,  New  York  and   London. 

The  physical  and  chemical  analysis  of  soils.  Encyclopedia  of  Ag- 
riculture,   by    L.    H.    Bailey.      Macmillan    Company. 

The  causes  of  the  glacial  epoch.  Proc.  International  Congress 
of  Geologists,  Mexico,  1906. 

154 


EUGEiNje  WOI.DKMAR  HII^GARD SIvATE) 

Biographical  memoir  of  Joseph  LeConte,   1823  to   1901.     Mem. 

Nat.  Acad.  Sciences,  April  18. 
Biographical   sketch   of   Dr.    T.    C.    Hilgard.      Bulletin,    Div.    of 

Botany,  U.  S.  Dept.  Agr. 
Note  sur  une  communication  de  M.  Kenny  sur  les  Teres  dites 

Usar,  de  I'lnde  Orientale.    Journ.  Agr.  Tropicale,  Sept. 
La  culture  de  la  vigne  dans  les  tropiques.     Journ,  Agr.  Tropi- 
cale, Oct.     (Une  Vigne  propre  aux  Climats  tropicaux,  la  Vitis 

rotundifolia.) 
Reponse  a  une  note  de  la  redaction  du  Journ.  Agr.  Tropicale, 

sur  la  reaction  entre  le  gypse  et  le  carbonate  de  sonde.    Journ. 

Agr.  Tropicale,  Nov. 

1908.  Review  of  the  paper  on  the  soil  preferences  of  certain  alpine  and 

sub-alpine  plants,  by  M.  L.  Fernald.    Science,  Jan.  24. 
Die  Boden  der  ariden  und  humiden  Regionen.     Centralblatt  u. 
Zeitschrift  fiir  Bodenkunde. 

1909.  Some    reminiscences   of    Dr.   Daniel    C.   Oilman.     Univ.    Calif. 

Chronicle,  vol.  11. 

1910.  The   unification   of   chemical   soil   analysis.     Proceedings    Inter- 

national Agrogeological  Congress,  at  Budapest. 
Agriculture  for  schools  of  the  Pacific  Slope.     (With  W.  J.  V. 
Osterhout.)    The  Macmillan  Company,  New  York,  illus.,  428  pp. 

1911.  The  classification  of  soils.     (With  R.  H.  Loughbridge.)      Proc. 

International   Agrogeological    Congress,    at    Stockholm,   Aug., 
1910. 

1912.  A  new  development  in  the  Mississippi  delta.    Pop.  Sci.  Mon. 
Die  Boden  arider  und  humider  Lander.     Internat.  Mitteilungen 

fiir  Bodenkunde. 
Disposal   of   citrus   culls.     California    Cultivator,    Los   Angeles, 
June  6. 

1913.  Cultivation    and   fertilization   of   citrus   orchards   in    California. 

Armour's  Farmers'  Almanac. 
The  evolution  of  an  American  college.     Univ.  Calif.  Chronicle, 

vol.  15. 
Cotton  in  California.    California  Cultivator,  Los  Angeles,  June  5. 
1915.     Potassium  from  the  soil.     Science,  Oct.  15. 

1916.,  A  peculiar  clay  from  near  the  City  of  Mexico.    Proc.  Nat.  Acad. 
Sci.,  Jan. 


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